Cinema VinesAnuparna Roy’s second feature, Lovers in the Blue Night, has taken home the NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film at the 80th Venice Film Festival, adding to her growing reputation on the international stage. The film premiered in the Orizzonti section this year, following Roy’s 2025 debut, Songs of Forgotten Trees, which earned her Best Director at the same festival.
Set against the bustling backdrop of Mumbai, the story follows the intersecting lives of migrant workers, exploring themes of displacement, urban survival, hidden desire, gender, poverty and class. The NETPAC jury praised the film as a “delicately sensitive vision” and highlighted Roy’s “confident voice” and the movie’s “cohesively nuanced” approach to these marginalised narratives.
Roy shared her excitement on Instagram, writing, “A little surreal, a lot of gratitude. ✨From an independent set to Venice, carrying a story, a dream, and the quiet belief that it was always worth creating. 7 minutes of a standing ovation. A lifetime of gratitude. My Team 🥹🫂❤️. A moment I’ll carry with me for a very long time. Thank you, Venice, for reminding me why we create to dream, to tell stories, and to be seen.”
The film’s production team includes producers Vikas Kumar, Sharib Khan, Bibhanshu Rai and Romil Modi, with co‑production credits to Neeraj Churi, Beesham A Seecharan and Navin Shetty. Kumar praised Roy’s “remarkable emotional and cinematic confidence,” noting that the award recognises not just the film but the sensitivity, courage and conviction behind it.
Competing against 14 other 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, Lovers in the Blue Night stood out for its intimate portrayal of lives often relegated to the margins. Roy expressed that the recognition, arriving a year after her debut was honored, is deeply moving and a testament to the film’s resonance with both audiences and jurors.
