Debutante filmmaker Anuparna Roy, who charted history by winning the Orizzonti Award for Best Director at the 82nd Venice Film Festival for her film Songs of Forgotten Trees, expressed solidarity for Palestine during her acceptance speech at the closing ceremony of the gala on Saturday.
A short clip from the director's address is going viral on social media.
"Every child deserves peace, freedom, liberation and Palestinians are no exception. I don't want any claps for this. It's a responsibility at the moment to stand by Palestine... I might upset my country but it doesn't matter to me anymore," a teary-eyed Anuparna Roy says in the video.
La réalisatrice indienne Anuparna Roy a exprimé son soutien à Gaza et à la Palestine lors de la Mostra de Venise, déclarant dans son discours de remise de prix : "Mon pays n'aimera pas cela". pic.twitter.com/vBJTLvMhRe
— Nouvelle Aube - Yeni Şafak Français (@nouvelleaubefr) September 8, 2025
For her movie Songs of Forgotten Trees, Anuparna Roy became the first Indian to win the Orizzonti Award for Best Director at one of the most prestigious film galas around the world.
Presented by Anurag Kashyap and produced by Bibhanshu Rai, Romil Modi and Ranjan Singh, the film follows the story of two women and how their lives get intertwined in Mumbai. It stars Naaz Shaikh and Sumi Baghel.
According to the official synopsis, Songs of Forgotten Trees, co-produced by Navin Shetty and Anuparna Roy, 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 begin to share more than just a space.
Amid the relentless pulse of Mumbai, they discover a silent empathy. However, as personal histories, desires, and wounds resurface, their delicate connection is put to the test. What follows is not a rupture, but a strange and tender unfolding of selfhood, of survival, of unexpected kinship, as per the press note.
