Venice-winning Indian filmmaker hits back at censorship as second film premieres

Independent Indian filmmaker Anuparna Roy, known for her award-winning debut "Songs of Forgotten Trees," faces censorship from India's film board, preventing its domestic release.

Despite its international recognition at the Venice Film Festival, the film is labeled a societal threat by censors, possibly due to Roy's political views.

Roy returns to Venice with "Lovers of the Blue Night," while highlighting challenges faced by independent filmmakers in India.

Her work often explores sensitive themes contrasting mainstream Bollywood narratives.

VENICE, Sept 11 — Independent Indian filmmaker Anuparna Roy, whose first film won a top prize at the Venice Film Festival last year, told AFP that it had been blocked by censors and would not be shown in her home country.

Songs of Forgotten Trees from Roy, just 28, picked up the best director prize in the secondary Horizons section of the festival in 2025 and she is back in the Italian city this week with a follow-up.

But her joy at returning to one of the world’s most prestigious film events has been tempered by a decision from India’s powerful film board to block distribution of her first feature.

“A few days back, they called us and they said that it’s a ‘threat to society’. Can you believe that Songs of Forgotten Trees is a threat to society?” Roy told AFP this week.

“I am terribly upset about the censorship,” she said, adding: “I represented the country here, I won for the country.”

Songs of Forgotten Trees is a tender story about friendship, featuring two migrant women who share an apartment in Mumbai, one a part-time sex worker, the other a call centre employee.

The film’s difficulties mirror those of the more overtly political Santosh , by British-Indian director Sandhya Suri, which won critical acclaim after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2024, only to fall foul of the censors.

That movie shone a light on sexism, religious discrimination and corruption in the Indian police, as well as the treatment of lower-caste people.

Roy is back in Venice with her second film Lovers of the Blue Night , which also strays into sensitive territory, depicting Bangladeshi migrants struggling with poverty, grief and their sexuality in Mumbai, previously known as Bombay.

“My aim was to showcase a different Bombay because all the beautiful pictures (films) in Bombay have already been made,” Roy told AFP ahead of the premiere today.

It is competing for prizes in the Horizons section, which offers a platform for up-and-coming filmmakers. Winners will be announced tomorrow.

Roy sees the space in India for independent filmmakers as being limited, partly due to the dominance of mass-market Bollywood fare in cinemas, as well as political pressure.

“It’s good for those who can praise the government and make a propaganda film. I am not somebody who can do that,” she said.

She also worries that her statements in support of Palestinian rights might explain her problems with the film board.

India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) vets film releases and has the power to demand cuts and edits, as well as ban distribution.

Although censorship has a long history in the world’s biggest democracy, the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi is seen by rights groups and other critics as clamping down further since coming to power in 2014.

Roy is part of a new generation of female Indian directors that includes Payal Kapadia whose All We Imagine As Light in 2024 was another Cannes festival and international success story.

Roy is largely self-taught, having learned the art of filmmaking from friends and mentors.

Only a few years ago, she was working in a New Delhi call centre having moved from her family home in Purulia, a coal-producing area of West Bengal state in eastern India.

Since relocating to Mumbai in 2023, she has found the pulsing energy and grinding hardship of the place nicknamed Maximum City to be a rich source of inspiration.

The challenge for her is to bring out empathy for her subjects.

“My mentors guide me and they continuously told me that no language of sympathy should come out, an exaggeration of poverty, romanticising poverty,” she added.

“It’s easy to sell poverty to Europe, right? It’s a continuous struggle.” — AFP

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印度独立电影人阿努帕娜·罗伊凭借其获奖处女作《被遗忘的树之歌》而闻名，但她的电影却面临印度电影委员会的审查，无法在国内上映。

尽管该片在威尼斯电影节上获得了国际认可，但审查人员却将其贴上了“社会威胁”的标签，这可能是由于罗伊的政治观点所致。

罗伊携《蓝色之夜的恋人》重返威尼斯，同时着重探讨了印度独立电影人面临的挑战。

她的作品经常探讨与主流宝莱坞叙事截然不同的敏感主题。

威尼斯，9 月 11 日——印度独立电影人阿努帕娜·罗伊 (Anuparna Roy) 告诉法新社，她的第一部电影去年在威尼斯电影节上获得了最高奖项，但该片已被审查机构封杀，不会在她的祖国上映。

28 岁的罗伊执导的《被遗忘的树之歌》在 2025 年电影节的“地平线”单元获得了最佳导演奖，本周她带着续作重返这座意大利城市。

但印度强大的电影委员会决定阻止她的第一部故事片的发行，这让她重返世界最负盛名的电影盛会之一的喜悦蒙上了一层阴影。

“几天前，他们打电话给我们，说这（《被遗忘的树之歌》）对社会构成威胁。你能相信《被遗忘的树之歌》会对社会构成威胁吗？”罗伊本周告诉法新社。

“我对这种审查制度感到非常愤怒，”她说道，并补充道：“我代表国家来到这里，我为国家赢得了胜利。”

《被遗忘的树之歌》讲述了一个关于友谊的温馨故事，故事的主角是两个在孟买合租公寓的移民女性，一个是兼职性工作者，另一个是呼叫中心员工。

这部电影的困境与英国印度裔导演桑迪亚·苏里执导的更具政治色彩的电影《桑托什》的困境如出一辙。《桑托什》于 2024 年在法国戛纳电影节首映后赢得了评论界的赞誉，但却因审查制度的阻挠而未能上映。

那部电影揭露了印度警察队伍中的性别歧视、宗教歧视和腐败问题，以及低种姓人群的待遇问题。

罗伊带着她的第二部电影《蓝色夜晚的恋人》重返威尼斯，这部电影也触及了敏感话题，描绘了孟加拉国移民在孟买（以前称为孟买）与贫困、悲伤和性取向作斗争的故事。

“我的目​​的是展现一个不一样的孟买，因为所有关于孟买的美丽画面（电影）都已经拍完了，”罗伊在今天的首映式前告诉法新社。

它正在角逐“地平线”单元的奖项，该单元旨在为崭露头角的电影制作人提供平台。获奖名单将于明日公布。

罗伊认为，印度独立电影人的空间有限，部分原因是宝莱坞大众市场电影在电影院占据主导地位，以及政治压力。

“这适合那些能够吹捧政府、制作宣传片的人。但我做不到这一点，”她说。

她还担心自己支持巴勒斯坦权利的言论可能会解释她与电影委员会之间的问题。

印度中央电影认证委员会（CBFC）负责审查电影上映，并有权要求删减和修改，以及禁止发行。

尽管审查制度在世界上最大的民主国家有着悠久的历史，但人权组织和其他批评人士认为，纳伦德拉·莫迪领导的印度教民族主义政府自 2014 年上台以来，进一步加强了审查制度。

罗伊是新一代印度女导演中的一员，其中包括帕亚尔·卡帕迪亚，她执导的《我们想象的一切都是光》（All We Imagine As Light）于 2024 年上映，再次在戛纳电影节和国际上取得了成功。

罗伊基本上是自学成才，他的电影制作技艺是从朋友和导师那里学来的。

就在几年前，她还在新德里的一家呼叫中心工作，此前她从位于印度东部西孟加拉邦煤炭产区普鲁利亚的家中搬到了这里。

自 2023 年搬到孟买以来，她发现这座被誉为“最大城市”的地方充满活力，但也充满了艰辛，这为她提供了丰富的灵感。

她面临的挑战是如何唤起人们对她拍摄对象的同情心。

“我的导师们指导我，他们不断告诉我，不要流露出任何同情的言辞，不要夸大贫困，不要美化贫困，”她补充道。

“向欧洲兜售贫困的概念很容易，对吧？但这却是一场持续不断的斗争。”——法新社

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