Anuparna Roy says India’s film board has blocked her acclaimed debut Songs of Forgotten Trees from distribution after it won Best Director at Venice.
VENICE, ITALY — Web Desk: Indian filmmaker Anuparna Roy says her award-winning debut film Songs of Forgotten Trees has been blocked from distribution in India after censors described it as a “threat to society.”
Roy, 28, made the comments after returning to the Venice Film Festival with her second feature, Lovers of the Blue Night. Her debut won the Best Director award in the festival’s Horizons section in 2025.
According to Roy, officials contacted her team recently and told them that Songs of Forgotten Trees was considered a “threat to society.”
The filmmaker said she was deeply upset by the decision, arguing that she had represented India at the international festival and won an award for the country.
What is Songs of Forgotten Trees about?
The film is a story about friendship between two migrant women living together in Mumbai. One works part-time as a sex worker, while the other is employed at a call centre.
Roy’s comments come amid renewed attention on censorship and the challenges faced by independent filmmakers in India.
She also pointed to political pressure and the dominance of mainstream Bollywood cinema as factors limiting opportunities for independent filmmakers.
Roy said she was concerned that her public support for Palestinian rights could also have contributed to the difficulties surrounding her film, although this remains her own assessment rather than an independently established reason for the decision.
Roy returns to Venice with second film
Roy is back at the festival this year with Lovers of the Blue Night, which explores the lives of Bangladeshi migrants dealing with poverty, grief and sexuality in Mumbai.
The film is competing in the Horizons section, which provides a platform for emerging filmmakers.
Roy said she wanted to portray a different side of Mumbai, arguing that many of the city’s familiar cinematic images had already been explored.
Her career has largely been self-taught, with the filmmaker learning filmmaking through friends and mentors. She is part of a younger generation of Indian female directors gaining international recognition.
Her case has also drawn comparisons with Santosh, a film by British-Indian director Sandhya Suri that received critical acclaim after premiering at Cannes in 2024 but subsequently faced difficulties with Indian censors.
