Anuparna Roy, Rohan Kanawade talk about their award-winning films at 2025 DIFF

Dharamshala, Oct 31 (PTI) Indian independent cinema is thriving and needs proper platforms to reach its audiences, believe filmmakers Anuparna Roy and Rohan Kanawade, whose movies "Songs of Forgotten Trees" and "Sabar Bonda" have won top honours at major international film festivals.

The directors were part of a panel discussion, titled "From Vision to Reality: The Making of Indie Cinema” on the second day of the ongoing Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF). The session also featured Bhutanese filmmaker Dechen Wangmo Roder ("I, The Son"), and Nidhi Saxena, the director of "Secret of a Mountain Serpent".

Roy's film won the Orizzonti Award for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival while "Sabar Bonda" won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Dramatic category at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

"I don’t think anyone makes films, designing them for festivals. You make it because you are emotional, you want to say something,” said Roy, whose "Songs of Forgotten Trees" will be the closing film at DIFF this year.

She said a stroke of urgency landed her debut feature in Venice.

"I ended up sending a very rough cut to the festival! They already had seven Indian films under consideration, and we were late. They ended up replying on July 18, that we are considering your film. It was a great experience there, the film won, people loved it and the concept of two women." Kanawade revealed how his Sundance-winning film was deemed “a difficult sell” by several European and American sales agents.

“They said, ‘So sorry, we are passing the film.’ I thought, 'Should I make the film that can be easy for you to sell?' I can't make a film that everyone else wants to watch; I will make a film the way I want to make a film. You have to make an honest film and have patience for things to work out,” said Kanawade.

He also pointed out that September marked a breakthrough month for independent cinema, with acclaimed titles like "Sabar Bonda", "Jugnuma", and "Humans in the Loop" finding theatrical releases.

“In the next few years, there shouldn't be any terms like independent or non-independent... There should just be cinema. Last month, we saw so many films releasing theatrically and people went to watch them. This is what I was saying - give that chance to the film. If you make the film available to them, they will go to watch,” he said.

Dechen Wangmo Roder spoke about the practical challenges of sustaining creativity within tight budgets.

“Of course, it’s very hard to shoot low-budget, but I feel that’s the only way to go for me now- to sort of sacrifice the budget. The next film I’m producing for a friend right now, we got a grant for Rs 10 lakhs, and we’re thinking, let’s try it. We don’t need to depend on anything else," he said.

Saxena, who has helmed two acclaimed indie titles, "Secret of a Mountain Serpent" and "Sad Letters of an Imaginary Woman", reflected on the risks of working without institutional backing.

“I know that no Indian or foreign producer is going to give money to make an experimental film. My films were only possible because of chance. To make my first film, I sold something and I didn't have anything to sell for the second film, so I kept applying for grants.” The festival also hosted the special session “Spiritual Cinema”, which saw Andrei A Tarkovsky in conversation with festival co-founder Tenzing Sonam. He reflected on his legendary father, Andrei Tarkovsky's legacy.

“Living with him as a father was like living through his work because he was a very communicative person. So we would have discussions about art, cinema, about spiritual search and it was very exciting for me as a kid,” the filmmaker said at the festival, which also screened his film "Andrey Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer" and "Nostalghia" on Friday.

The other titles that were screened at DIFF were "Young Mothers", "Dying" and "Aajoor", which saw 25 students from Government College of Teacher Education, Dharamshala in attendance at the Picture Time inflatable theatre and a special screening of the Malayalam film "Victoria", which was showcased again due to heavy demand.

DIFF 2025 opened with housefull screenings of Neeraj Ghaywan’s "Homebound" on Thursday. This year’s edition will also feature masterclasses with renowned artists and thought-provoking discussions that shape the future of independent cinema. PTI BK BK RB RB