For a filmmaker on the rise, few honors are more exciting than an invitation to the legendary Criterion Closet. The latest auteur to share their picks is Payal Kapadia, the visionary director behind “All We Imagine as Light,” who stopped by the famed closet to pick up Blu-rays from some of her favorite directors. She took the opportunity to opine on everyone from Pier Paolo Pasolini to Aki Kaurismäki, explaining how her distinct style is a product of her truly global taste in film. Watch the video below.

Kapadia’s extensive knowledge of cinema should come as no surprise. In a recent interview with IndieWire’s Anne Thompson, the auteur explained that years of following the arthouse and festival ecosystem helped her cast the film’s two leads, Divya Prabha and Kani Kusruti.

“They are quite well-known in the arthouse cinema circuit in Kerala in the South,” Kapadia said. “They...