L’Œil d’or 2021 – « A night of knowing nothing » by Payal Kapadia
Jury Ezra Edelman, Julie Bertuccelli, Déborah François, Iris Brey and Orwa Nyrabia reached their decision awarding L’Œil d’Or to:
L’Œil d’Or 2021
A night of knowing nothing by Payal Kapadia
(France, India – 1h37 – DIRECTOR’S FORTNIGHT)
Petit Chaos Production
A university student in India, writes letters to her estranged lover, while he is away.
Through these letters, we get a glimpse into the drastic changes taking place around
her. Merging reality with fiction, dreams, memories, fantasies and anxieties, an
amorphous narrative unfolds.
Jury’s note: “We were all taken by a film with a sustained artistic vision which
blended the personal and the political in mesmerizing fashion. For a debut film,
this makes it even more even astonishing.”
Photo credit : Benjamin Géminel
L’Œil d’Or Jury’s Special Prize
Babi Yar. Context by Sergeï Loznitsa
(Ukraine – 1h25 – OFFICIAL SELECTION – SPECIAL SCREENINGS)
The film reconstructs the historical context of the massacre of 33 771 Jews in the Babi
Yar ravine in the north-west of Kiev through archive footage documenting the German
occupation of Ukraine and the subsequent decade.
Jury’s note: “A film with masterful editing and to a director who meticulously
weaved a lost part of history into the continuum of our collective memory.”
Photo credit : Benjamin Géminel
L’Œil d’or – Cannes Documentary Award was created in 2015 by LaScam in collaboration
with the Cannes Festival, with the support of Ina and Audiens.
The Prize has already awarded, Waad Al Kataeb and Edward Watts for For Sama (Syria-
UK, 2019) and Patricio Guzman for La Cordillera de los suenos (France/Chili, 2019),
Stefano Savona for Samouni Road (France, Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, 2018), Agnès
Varda and JR for Visages, Villages (France, 2017) ;Eryk Rocha for Cinema Novo (Brazil,
2016) ; Marcia Allende Tambutti for Allende mi abuelo Allende (Chili, 2015).
Press contacts:
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