Kolkata: She grew up with rice rations instead of books in rural Bengal. Lost her childhood friend to marriage at 13. Debutant filmmaker Anuparna Roy drew from life to stun the 82nd Venice Film Festival by winning the Best Director award Saturday - and used the moment to plead for war-torn Gaza's children, reports Priyanka Dasgupta.

Roy, 35, became the first Indian filmmaker to win in the Orizzonti section with her debut 'Songs Of Forgotten Trees', outpacing 18 rivals. On stage, she let her victory speech take a political detour. "Every child deserves peace, freedom and liberation, and Palestine is no exception," she said in her acceptance speech. "I might upset my country, but it doesn't matter anymore."

On phone from Venice, Roy said she didn't realize she was making history when she spoke. "It is a global crisis when a powerful nation like Israel destroys justice, peace and lives. As a global citizen, I had a microphone and couldn't restrain myself," she said.

They once asked if their daughter could ever measure up to Satyajit Ray. On Sunday, Brahmananda and Manisha Roy were celebrating Anuparna Roy's Best Director award at the 82nd Venice Film Festival's Orizzonti section for her debut feature Songs of Forgotten Trees. Roy's win came decades after Ray's Aparajito won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1957. Orizzonti runs parallel to the festival's main competition.

A year ago, the middle-class couple from Kulti in Paschim Bardhaman district, 230km northwest off Kolkata, worried when their daughter quit her job to make her first feature. "We sent her to a modest village school, had no knowledge of films. We only enjoyed Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, hit songs like Ei poth jodi na sesh hoy," Brahmananda said.

Brahmananda, a retired Eastern Coalfield Limited employee, lives in a flat in Kulti with Manisha. Word of their daughter's Venice triumph has already reached their ancestral village in Narayanpur. "We are waiting for her to come home so we can visit together," he said.

The father had challenged her obsession with cinema and feared for her marriage prospects. "She insisted marriage could wait. Now, after her victory and all the accolades, we feel proud," Manisha said.

She remembered her husband once asked their daughter if she thought she could hold a lamp to Ray. Anuparna had one request: give her a chance. Today, her mother has only one wish - to cook her daughter's favourite dishes when she returns.

Crew members echoed the pride. Sakyadeb Chowdhury, SRFTI alumnus and second-unit DOP with her in Venice, credited her "courage to show things as they are". He said she insisted on long takes, no cut-ins, and turned limitations into new aesthetics. "I hope her win inspires other filmmakers," he said.

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Anuparna Roy is a mix of emotions — happy, tired, and content — as she talks about her historic win at the Venice International Film Festival, where she became the first Indian to bag the Best Director award for Songs of Forgotten Trees in the Orizzonti Competition section.

With everyone around telling her about her creating history, she tells us, “All these statements are making me humble. I cannot lie back and enjoy hearing that I have created history. Come on! I am inspired by many other and better women filmmakers from within and outside India. It’s not just me; it’s cinema which has created history again. I would love to give the award to cinema, and my love for it.”

Songs of Forgotten Trees was the only Indian selection in the Orizzonti Competition section this year. As she accepted the award at the festival, Anuparna reveals that her mind was on her own journey and the responsibility that comes with recognition. “I remembered how Anurag (Kashyap, presenter) phrased it to me, that winning an award is not just bringing reputation but also responsibility… to make better films and better craft, even when you are uncomfortable,” she says.

She tells us that she dedicates this award to “all the beautiful women out there” and to her hometown, Purulia, in West Bengal. She says, “I have seen the women’s lives there. If any of them, after seeing this, can raise their voices, it would be great. It will be sufficient for me to keep myself motivated.”

Sharing further, Anuparna says that making a film centred on women and their intimacy, with full support from an all-male team, was deeply affirming. “It was definitely tough, but the kind of backing I received set an example for the world. Gender is literally secondary,” she says, adding, “My whole film was backed by men, and then Anurag sir was a bonus. For a film talking about friendship, outside the film too, the team members were friends and close. This is huge.”