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Filmmaker Anuparna Roy, who made her debut with “Songs of Forgotten Trees”, bagged the Best Director award at the Venice International Film Festival.
Anuparna Roy Becomes First Indian Filmmaker To Win Best Director At Venice For Songs of Forgotten Trees
Filmmaker Anuparna Roy, who made her debut with “Songs of Forgotten Trees”, bagged the Best Director award at the Venice International Film Festival. Presented by filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, the film premiered in the festival’s prestigious Orizzonti Competition section, an international competition for films that highlight new trends, with a focus on debut works, young talents, indie features, and lesser-known cinema, on September 1.
Roy said she the film is a tribute to all the women who are “silenced, overlooked, or underestimated”. “This film is a tribute to every woman who’s ever been silenced, overlooked, or underestimated. May this win inspire more voices, more stories, and more power for women in cinema and beyond,” she said in a statement.
According to the film’s official synopsis, “Songs of Forgotten Trees” follows the story of Thooya, a migrant and aspiring actress, who survives the city by leveraging beauty and wit, occasionally trading intimacy for opportunity.
When she sublets her sugar daddy’s upscale apartment to Swetha, a fellow migrant working a corporate job, the two women—seemingly from different worlds—begin to share more than just a space. Amid the relentless pulse of Mumbai, they discover a silent empathy.
“But as personal histories, desires, and wounds resurface, their delicate connection is tested. What follows is not a rupture, but a strange and tender unfolding—of selfhood, of survival, of unexpected kinship,” it read. The film stars Naaz Shaikh and Sumi Baghel.
Produced by Bibhanshu Rai, Romil Modi and Ranjan Singh, the cast also includes Bhushan Shimpi, Ravi Maan, Pritam Pilania and Lovely Singh.
It features cinematography by Debjit Samanta, editing by Ashish Patel and music by Nishant Ramteke The Venice International Film Festival concluded on Saturday.
The 82nd Venice International Film Festival (August 27–September 6) closed with drama and surprises. Indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch stunned audiences by winning the Golden Lion for Father Mother Sister Brother, while the heartbreaking The Voice of Hind Rajab received the Silver Lion and a record 22-minute standing ovation. Italy’s Toni Servillo (La Grazia) and China’s Xin Zhilei (The Sun Rises On Us All) took home the top acting prizes, with Benny Safdie named Best Director for The Smashing Machine. A memorable highlight came when Hollywood icon Kim Novak, 92, made a rare appearance to accept the Lifetime Achievement Golden Lion, moving audiences to tears.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
Shreyanka Mazumdar is Chief Sub Editor of the entertainment team at News18. With an unbridled passion for all things Bollywood, she loves deep-diving into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment world, bring…Read More
Shreyanka Mazumdar is Chief Sub Editor of the entertainment team at News18. With an unbridled passion for all things Bollywood, she loves deep-diving into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment world, bring… Read More
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September 07, 2025, 13:38 IST
