Featuring Malayalam, Hindi, and Marathi dialogue, it is an international co-production involving companies from France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Italy.

Unable to claim legal tenancy, Parvaty decides to quit her job and move back to her village in Ratnagiri.

Late at night at a beach shack, Prabha asks a surprised Anu to invite Shiaz to sit with herself and Parvaty.

[10][11] Kapadia used money from the Huub Bals grant and Cinéfondation to reside in Europe in order to plan the film production with Hakim.

[10] All We Imagine as Light was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 23 May,[12] and received an eight minute standing ovation at the end of its screening.

[13][14] This is the first film from India to compete in the main competition at Cannes since Swaham in 1994, and Kapadia is the first Indian female filmmaker to do so.

The website's consensus reads: "Capturing the here and now of modern India with the spontaneity of a candid photograph, All We Imagine as Light is a lustrous achievement that announces Payal Kapadia as an essential filmmaker.

[30] Peter Bradshaw, writing in The Guardian, gave the film five stars and praised it as an "absorbing story of three nurses that is full of humanity".

[38] At the initial news announcing the selection of Laapataa Ladies, FFI president Ravi Kottarakara explained All That We Imagine As Light's exclusion, saying "The jury said that they were watching a European film taking place in India, not an Indian film taking place in India.

"[39] Justifying its selection, the FFI noted on Laapataa Ladies, "Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance.

"[39] Kapadia responded to the controversy by expressing her appreciation for Kiran Rao's works, saying to Indiewire "I just think it’s really great that there are two films from India that are doing this well, and they’re both by women.

[41] Industry figures like director Hansal Mehta and Ricky Kej publicly voiced their discontent with the FFI's decision to not send All We Imagine As Light, with the former sarcastically remarking "Film Federation of India does it again!

"[42] In light of the renewed controversy following the release of the Academy Award shortlist, Jahnu Barua, the head of the 13-member all-male jury remarked to the Hindustan Times that people ought to be "respectful of the process".