Filmmaker Anuparna Roy talked candidly about the fallout from her film Songs of Forgotten Trees winning the Best Director prize in the Orizzonti Competition at the 82nd Venice Film Festival.

She referred to her historic victory as a life changing experience.

The Song of Forgotten Trees directed by Anuparna was shown today as the last movie at the 14th Dharamshala International Film Festival.

She talked candidly to ANI about how the industry's attitude towards her has changed giving her more accessibility to producers and opportunities in her career as a filmmaker.

When questioned about what happened after her victory Anuparna responded, "I am living every bit of it. The kind of experience it gave me as an indie filmmaker was amazing because now the producers are very accessible to me, and I am also accessible to them."

"I can pitch my next project to them and what else do you need as a filmmaker. I mean, when you get to pitch your next project and get to do another film because of the win or because of the very first film of mine. So I guess I am enjoying it and it changed our life," added Anuparna.

The director of The Songs of Forgotten Trees also talked about the early difficulties she had finding producers for her independent film because it lacked a commercial component.

"To be very honest when I started this project I never thought of producers I never thought of anything while I knew that nobody was going to hear this story because the story is lacking in the commercial aspect which is the stereotype definition of films in India. So basically I never expected a producer. But thankfully you know we got all the producers on board," she said.

The director ended by delivering a heartfelt message to India's independent filmmakers, stating that "will," "intention," and "passion" are key features for a filmmaker to possess in order to create a quality film.

"I want to tell them (indie filmmakers) that please make films because if I can do it, I am pretty sure they also can do it because I don't think so that I'm exceptional. I feel that if they have the will to make, have passion, their intention is innocent and clear and they are confident about it, they should make indie films without waiting," concluded.

The audience responded with excitement to the film's screening on the final day of DIFF 2025 today.

PictureTime set up two inflatable digital theatres at the football pitch and basketball court, and Hermann Gmeiner Hall to screen the films at the 14th edition of the Dharamshala Film Festival.

In addition to masterclasses by Adil Hussain and Andrey A. Tarkovsky, son of the renowned Russian filmmaker, who talked about his father's cinematic legacy, the festival kicked off earlier this week with Neeraj Ghaywan's.