Anuparna Roy wins Best Director award at Venice Film Festival for Songs of Forgotten Trees

Filmmaker Anuparna Roy, who made her debut with Songs of Forgotten Trees, bagged the Best Director award in the Orizzonti Competition at the Venice International Film Festival. Roy is the first Indian director to receive this honour in the section.

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.

During her acceptance speech, the filmmaker spoke on the ongoing Israel and Palestine conflict. Supporting Palestine, Roy said its "a responsibility to stand by Palestine."

"Every child deserves peace, freedom, liberation and Palestinians are no exception… it's a responsibility at the moment to stand by Palestine. I might upset my country but it doesn't matter to me anymore," she said.

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,” according to the official synopsis. 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.