Our Bureau
Venice
Filmmaker and director Anuparna Roy has made history at the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival. Anuparna has won the Best Director award in the Orizzonti Competition for her film ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees.’
The award-winning movie was presented by well-known and highly reputed director of Bollywood Anurag Kashyap. ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees’ was the only Indian title in the Orizzonti section at the Venice Film Festival. The movie revolves around two migrant women living in Mumbai and their journey as they navigate loneliness, survival, and fleeting moments of connection.
On Saturday, September 6th, during the closing ceremony of the film festival, the President of the Orizzonti jury, French filmmaker Julia Ducournau announced the award. Anuparna Roy, who was dressed in a white saree, went to receive the award. In the speech, she thanked the jury along with the producers of the film, its cast and the filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and stated that this moment was “surreal”.
Other movie projects that received high praise and the titles receiving included the Fest opener, La Grazia (Mubi) from Paolo Sorrentino and starring longtime collaborator Toni Servillo; Kathryn Bigelow’s return with ensemble pic A House of Dynamite (Netflix); Dwayne Johnson/Emily Blunt-starrer The Smashing Machine (A24) from Benny Safdie; Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee, starring Amanda Seyfried; Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein (Netflix) led by Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi; Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia (Focus) with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons; Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice, among others.
