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Venice Film Festival 2025: India's Anuparna Roy creates history, wins Best Director award
The filmmaker won the Best Director award in the Orizzonti Competition for her film 'Songs of Forgotten Trees', which was presented by Anurag Kashyap
- PUBLISHED: Sun 7 Sept 2025, 5:12 PM
- By:
- ANI
Filmmaker Anuparna Roy created history at the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival, winning the Best Director in the Orizzonti Competition for her film Songs of Forgotten Trees.
Presented by Anurag Kashyap, Roy's Songs of Forgotten Trees became the only Indian title in Venice's Orizzonti section. It revolves around two migrant women in Mumbai as they navigate loneliness, survival, and fleeting moments of connection.
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The award was announced by French filmmaker Julia Ducournau, president of the Orizzonti jury, during the festival's closing ceremony on September 6. Roy, dressed in a white saree, accepted the honour and called the moment "surreal," thanking the jury, her producers, her cast, and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap.
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Other competition titles receiving high praise included 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.