New Delhi: 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 the film is a tribute to all the women who are “silenced, overlooked, or underestimated”.
The award was announced by French filmmaker Julia Ducournau, president of the Orizzonti jury, during the festival’s closing ceremony on Saturday. 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.
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 as reported by Deadline.
