On Sunday morning, the country woke up to the news of Anuparna Roy becoming the first Indian to receive the Best Director award in the Orizzonti section at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. This was for her debut feature film Songs of Forgotten Trees, a sensitive and beyond-the-surface-level examination of the growing bond between two unlikely migrant women — played by Naaz Shaikh and Sumi Baghel — sharing a flat in Mumbai.

Songs of Forgotten Trees premiered at Venice in the Orizzonti section, which, much like the Un Certain Regard side bar at Cannes, features upcoming filmmakers, usually first or second works, with focus on global independent cinema. The film, backed by Anurag Kashyap and produced by Ranjan Singh, Bibhanshu Rai and Romil Modi, has put Anuparna — who grew up partly in Narayanpur in Purulia and then in Noapara — on the global filmmaking map, with her winner speech, in which she condemned the atrocities being carried out against Palestine, quickly going viral.

A day after returning from Venice, Anuparna — forthright and honest to a fault — engaged in a free-flowing conversation with t2.

Congratulations on the huge honour at Venice! Has the feeling sunk in yet?

I am still recovering. I still can’t believe it! I am also trying to make myself realise what a huge responsibility this win is (smiles). Going forward, I have to make better films. I am very happy, but it is also a very heavy feeling.

I am very bad at celebrations, but my friend did put together a lovely dinner for the whole team, at which Joaquin Phoenix and Julia Ducournau, who was the jury president (for the Orizzonti section), were also present. It was wonderful to be in their company and get to know their perspectives on cinema. It was a huge learning experience. I am so happy!

After the win, so many eminent people reached out to me. (Vikramaditya) Motwane sir and Anurag (Kashyap) sir have been a huge support. On social media, I have seen posts from Alia Bhatt, Kriti Sanon, Mrunal Thakur and many others. I just saw that Kaushik Ganguly sir has posted something. I am so amazed and grateful! There have also been others like Konkona Sensharma and Radhika Apte. Kiran Rao messaged me, and that is enough for me to want to make another film! (Laughs) Zoya Akhtar also commented on social media. So many people from the world of cinema have said they are proud of me. What else do I want?! (Smiles)

So from Purulia to Sala Grande, it has been quite a journey, hasn’t it?

As I said, I still can’t wrap my head around it! (Laughs) I hail from Narayanpur, a village which is two hours away from Purulia. Narayanpur amaar Baba-r baari... I was there till Class 10. I then went to live with my maternal grandmother in Noapara, and that is the place I have a deeper connection with. In fact, my first (short) film (Run to the River) was based there. Narayanpur besh patriarchal akhono. But Noapara is very liberal, we have Hindus and Muslims staying together amicably. The essence of that village is something else. It is culturally very rich.

Songs of Forgotten Trees, among other things, has been inspired by your childhood friend. Can you elaborate?

Yes, one of the references in the film comes from Jhuma Nath, who was one of the first and closest friends I made in school. But once her surname came to be known, I was asked not to speak to her. At that age, I knew nothing about casteism and everything that came with it. In Class 8, she got married... it was actually ‘political’ and part of the government’s drive to marry off Dalit girls because their parents couldn’t afford the expenses. The feeling of the ‘loss’ of my friendship with her stayed on with me. My film won’t change her life in any way, but I felt privileged to use her story as a reference for the film.

Apart from that, I have experienced gender discrimination, even in school. It started from basic things like meyeder aar chheleder boshar jaiga alaada hobe. At home, I was treated like an equal by my parents, but in school, it was different. I couldn’t even sit with my brother in class just because he was a boy and I was a girl. I couldn’t understand all that then, but as I grew older, these things started bothering me.

In Class 5, boys were given books and cycles in school, but girls were given bags of rice according to their weight. In Class 8, with most girls reaching puberty, iron tablets were given to us in school, but the boys were given books. I gradually understood the implications of these things as I started understanding the world more. I started reading a lot, with my mama (uncle) introducing me to literature. I kept asking myself if everything that I and my fellow female students had been subjected to was a targeted conspiracy against our gender.

You had a job in the IT sector before turning filmmaker. How did that transition happen?

All that I told you about just now was simmering inside me for years, and I wanted to speak about it. But I didn’t know how. As I said, I would read a lot. Not just Rabindranath Tagore, but also Nazrul Islam and Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. I was heavily influenced by Ritwik Ghatak’s cinema. I realised that I could also have my own voice. I knew that whatever I was experiencing and had experienced, I just had to put it out there. I was aware that some people would like it and perhaps some wouldn’t, but that is how it is.

So was filmmaking the only way you felt you could make yourself heard?

Cinema had a huge influence on me. Jokhon cinema dekhtam, aami bhabtam je ei medium tar part ki kore howa jabe? Cinema wasn’t a subject in college, and it still isn’t in most colleges, which I find very distressing.

I would write a lot and I felt I had the ability to write a script. And then a friend of mine told me that in most cases, those who write a film script end up directing the film as well. That is how my awareness of this world grew, one small step at a time. With that idea in mind, I went to Delhi and enrolled in a mass communication course, but I quickly realised that the studies were more skewed towards journalism than cinema. I quit the course and started working in an IT job with the intention of saving up enough money to be able to make my own film. I saved up enough in about two-three years and that is how I made my first short film.

Your time on the Venice stage has gone viral because of the unflinching support you extended to Palestine. Many have applauded it, some have given it a controversial twist. How do you react to it?

I discussed it beforehand with my producers — who are also my mentors — and they told me to voice whatever I felt strongly about. They encouraged me to speak out and I thought that if I have a mic in front of me on such a global platform, why don’t I use it to talk about the miseries of the world right now instead of getting up and delivering a happy, sugarcoated speech? I am happy I used that stage to talk about something I feel so strongly about.

We also have to talk about the simple and striking sari that you wore, which in colour and style, was quintessentially Bengali. What prompted you to opt for it?

In Purulia, you will find a lot of wall paintings everywhere, with brushstrokes that are typical to that region, especially on the facades of tribal mud houses.

I wanted to represent that. Muskaan Mittal designed the look for me. I told her I wanted to wear a simple sari, I didn’t want anything expensive or designer. That is what she delivered and I am happy that I could depict a part of my culture through my choice of outfit for that evening.

What is the way forward for Songs of Forgotten Trees and for you as a filmmaker?

Celluloid Dreams (French film production and distribution company) has boarded the film and will look after its distribution, with the help of Ranjan sir. Celluloid Dreams comes with the legacy of handling the films of very big filmmakers like Jafar Panahi and Jia Zhangke. We are looking forward to sending the film across the world to many festivals. It has already been selected for BFI (BFI London Film Festival), which is scheduled for October.

Honestly, I don’t know much about sales and distribution because it is not my area of work. For me, if my film touches the hearts of a global audience, that is enough. To witness Songs of Forgotten Trees resonate with a global audience — beyond cultures, beyond languages — is exhilarating. What more could a filmmaker want?

What are the issues close to your heart that you want to put in your cinema going forward?

There are a few ideas I am working on. One is again about marginalised people and the struggles of living their lives in a big city. Like my short film, I am returning to a story set during the British regime in Bengal and through women protagonists, I want to focus on a different idea of liberation.

Who have been your filmmaking inspirations?

Zia Jhangke, Jafar Panahi.... I just love the work of the Dardenne Brothers. I love their films L’enfant and Tori and Lokita. I like Alfonso Cuaron, especially his film Roma. Moonlight and Close are two of my favourite films.

Even at the cost of genderising, our female filmmakers — whether it is you, Payal Kapadia, Kiran Rao and quite a few others — have gone out there over the last two years or so and showcased our cinema and culture very successfully on global platforms. You are relatively new to the profession, but what does being a woman filmmaker in India mean to you at this moment?

Things are definitely on a high. My film about two women and directed by a new female filmmaker is backed by seven men. I won’t say there is no gender discrimination within the industry and that things are always good, but we are slowly getting to a good place. I wanted to become a filmmaker after watching cinema made by Mira Nair, Zoya Akhtar, Rima Das... aami jodi eder cinema naa dekhtam, aami jaani na aaj aami ki kortam. Maybe I would have still been in my IT job and saying things like: ‘Hello sir, how can I assist you today?’ (Smiles) So we already have quite a few solid female filmmaking voices who are trying to make a statement through cinema. And we have amazing men within the industry who are supporting these women. Anurag Kashyap is a big example in this regard.

You will, of course, be heading home soon to your parents. Any plans of visiting Calcutta?

I want to spend time in Calcutta and explore it at length. I shifted straight from my hometown to Delhi and I wasn’t fully happy with that decision. Anirban Maity, a prolific editor in Calcutta, has been my mentor, along with Paresh Kamdar, for a long time now. I really want to go to Calcutta and spend time in Jadavpur University, visit College Street, sit at Coffee House....

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