Archive · 13 Sep 2026
Anuparna Roy Returns to Venice With Second Feature Film
Anuparna Roy is an Indian filmmaker from West Bengal.
Her first movie won a major directing award at the Venice Film Festival in 2025.
This made her the first Indian filmmaker to win that prize.
Now she has returned to Venice with her second movie, Lovers in the Blue Night.
The story is about Ameena, a woman who wants freedom from an unhappy marriage.
Roy got the idea from a woman she knew when she was a child.
She moved the story into an imagined Mumbai so Ameena could search for a different life.
Roy worked several jobs to help pay for her first film.
She says filmmakers in India need more support and that schools should teach students about movies.
Anuparna Roy’s debut, Songs of Forgotten Trees, won Best Director in Venice’s Orizzonti section in 2025.
The award made Roy the first Indian filmmaker to win the Orizzonti Best Director prize.
Roy has returned to Venice with her second feature, Lovers in the Blue Night.
The film follows Ameena, a woman seeking freedom from an unhappy marriage in an imagined Mumbai.
Roy says independent filmmakers in India receive limited encouragement and advocates teaching filmmaking and film appreciation in schools.
- Who
- Indian filmmaker Anuparna Roy, along with the characters Ameena and Karim in her second film.
- What
- Roy returned to the Venice Film Festival with Lovers in the Blue Night after winning Best Director there for her debut film.
- When
- A year after her 2025 Venice award, according to the article.
- Where
- The Venice Film Festival’s Lido, with the film’s story set partly in an imagined Mumbai.
- Why
- Roy developed the film to explore Ameena’s search for freedom, as well as marriage, migration, desire and belonging.
- Filmmaker
- Anuparna Roy
- Debut feature
- Songs of Forgotten Trees
- Second feature
- Lovers in the Blue Night
- Festival award
- Best Director, Orizzonti section, Venice Film Festival
- Award year
- 2025
- Award distinction
- Roy became the first Indian filmmaker to win the prize
- Story inspiration
- A woman named Ameena whom Roy knew during childhood
- Roy’s industry concern
- She says independent filmmakers in India receive limited encouragement