Asian Film Awards 2025: Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light honored in THIS category; big win for Shahana Goswami's Santosh

In the 18th edition of Asian Film Awards 2025, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light and Shahana Goswami’s Santosh have been awarded with top honors. Check out the list.

By Krishma Sharma

Updated on Mar 18, 2025 | 04:15 PM IST | 10K

Pic Courtesy: All We Imagine As Light and Santosh IMDb

The 18th edition of Asian Film Awards 2025 was hosted on Sunday at the Xiqu Centre in the West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong. At the special award ceremony, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, Santosh star Shahana Goswami and its director Sandhya Suri were awarded with the top honors. The list of the winners was shared on the official website of the Asian Film Awards.

According to the list, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light bagged the Best Film award defeating Black Dog (China), Exhuma (South Korea), Teki Cometh (Japan) and Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong).

Expressing happiness, Payal Kapadia stated being honored for her film in a "wonderful place for cinema" like Hong Kong was a special feeling. She expressed pride in the great work coming out of Asia and being a part of that community while speaking with the media in a backstage interview, as per Hindustan Times.

Making a special mention of the platform, she further added, "And, especially here, because the community is celebrated, and I think that it is really important for us to look at all the cinema from Asia and to be part of that... It was already special to be nominated. It's so great to win this award."

In addition to this, Shahana Goswami was named the Best Actress for her role in Santosh, while Sandhya Suri won the trophy of Best New Director.

Reacting to the honor, Goswami called working on the film a pleasant journey and admitted it being a challenging part for her to even believe that she could play it. She stated that she was nervous about playing the character and felt that she was acting.

"You always have this imposter syndrome. Things like this (trophy) help when you realize that 'Oh maybe you didn't do such a bad job'. So now I have a little bit more confidence in myself," Goswami said.

For the unversed, Shahana faced tough competition in the Best Actress category from: Kani Kusruti (All We Imagine As Light), Sylvia Chang (Daughter’s Daughter), Kawai Yuumi (Desert of Namibia), and Kim Go-eun (Exhuma).