Filmmaker Anuparna Roy's Lovers in the Blue Night has won the NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film at the Venice Film Festival. The honour comes a year after Roy won Best Director at Venice for her debut film Songs of Forgotten Trees.
Lovers in the Blue Night was selected for the Orizzonti Competition at Venice. The section, which is the festival's second most important competition after Spotlight, featured 15 films this year.
Roy's film competed alongside titles such as La Ragazza con la Leica, The Burning Giants, What Belongs to Others, Falling House, The Difficult Bride and Until the Day Ends.
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Anuparna Roy On The Award
Reacting to the win, Anuparna Roy spoke about the personal connection she shares with the film. “Winning the NETPAC Award means a lot to me because this film comes from a very personal place. These are characters and lives that are often pushed to the margins,” she said in a statement.
Roy added, “I wanted to approach them with tenderness, dignity and honesty. To receive this recognition at Venice, a year after my debut was awarded here, is deeply moving. I'm grateful the film has found a space with the audience and jury.”
Jury Praises The Film
The NETPAC jury recognised the film for its sensitive depiction of marginalised communities and migrant workers in Mumbai. It described the movie as a “delicately sensitive vision of the intersecting lives of migrant workers” and praised Roy's “confident voice”.
The jury also appreciated the film's exploration of several social and personal themes, including displacement, urban survival, hidden desire, gender, poverty and class.
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Producer Applauds Roy's Work
Set in Mumbai, Lovers in the Blue Night is backed by Vikas Kumar, Sharib Khan, Bibhanshu Rai and Romil Modi. Neeraj Churi, Beesham A Seecharan and Navin Shetty are attached as co-producers.
Vikas Kumar, producer at Khan and Kumar Media, praised Roy's work and said she made the film with “remarkable emotional and cinematic confidence”. He added that the award was important because it recognised the film's “sensitivity, courage, and conviction”.
“Lovers in the Blue Night asks us to look closely at lives that are often pushed to the margins, and to recognise the humanity, desire, and dignity within them,” Kumar said.
(With PTI inputs)
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