DIFF: Anuparna Roy reveals how a rough cut of ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees’ reached Venice, while ‘Sabar Bonda’s Rohan Kanawade calls for fairer distribution for independent films

India’s independent cinema is alive and thriving; it just needs to reach its audience. That was the prevailing sentiment on day two of Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF), where acclaimed filmmakers gathered to discuss the evolving landscape of indie filmmaking, the struggle for visibility, and the art of staying true to one’s vision.

DIFF, India’s leading platform for independent cinema, hosted two major sessions on Friday, including a special masterclass on legendary filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, attended by his son Andrey Tarkovsky.

The day began with a panel discussion titled “From Vision to Reality: The Making of Indie Cinema”, featuring Anuparna Roy (winner of the Orizzonti Award for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival for ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees’), ‘Sabar Bonda’ director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, Bhutanese filmmaker Dechen Wangmo Roder (‘I, The Son’), and Nidhi Saxena, director of ‘Secret of a Mountain Serpent’. The session was moderated by Prathyush Parasuraman.

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“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.

The filmmaker shared how 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 18th July, that we are considering your film. It was a great experience there, the film won, people loved it and the concept of two women."

Joining her on the panel, ‘Sabar Bonda’ director Rohan 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.”

Dechen Wangmo Roder spoke about the practical challenges of sustaining creativity within tight budgets and said, “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.”

While Nidhi 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.”

Later in the day, the special session “Spiritual Cinema” saw Andrey Tarkovsky in conversation with Tenzing Sonam, where he reflected on his father’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 which enthralled the audiences included ‘Sabar Bonda’, ‘Young Mothers’, ‘Dying’, ‘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 houseful screenings of Neeraj Ghaywan’s ‘Homebound’ on Thursday. This year’s edition will be held from 30 October to 2 November and also feature masterclasses with renowned artists and thought-provoking discussions that shape the future of independent cinema.

The highlights include a conversation with celebrated Indian filmmaker Kiran Rao, who will reflect on her cinematic journey, the changing landscape of independent film, and what it means to tell bold, meaningful stories today, and a masterclass with award-winning actor Adil Hussain on how actors can inhabit characters authentically across diverse cultural contexts.