Venice 2026 (wrap) – Awards for directors: Our Share of Sand; Lovers in the Blue Night; The Difficult Bride…

We look back at the South Asian films, directors and personalities at the recently concluded Venice International Film Festival (September 2-12)…

BRITISH based-director Shalini Adnani’s first feature ‘Our Share of Sand’ scooped the Audience Award after screening at the sidebar Venice International Film Critics’ Week. The film had its world premiere and has been garnering rave reviews. We enjoyed the film very much – though the subject is a sensitive one as our main character, British 12-year-old Maya is drawn into an investigation concerning her India-based father’s sand business…

Read our review here –  https://asianculturevulture.com/venice-2026-our-share-of-sand-shifting-family-loyalties-make-for-absorbing-watch/

The top award from Settimanta Internationazionale della Critica (SIC) was presented to ‘Prima della guerra’ (‘Before the War’) by Tommasso Usberti. The film set in the Po Valley of northern Italy revolves around a young man who is part of a local right-wing militia group and encounters a young Kosovo migrant called Sonia.  
‘Our Share of Sand’ is also screening at the Toronto International Film Festival (September 12-20) and comes to London Film Festival (October 7-18). It screens on Saturday October 10 and the next day at LFF – public booking begins at 10am this Thursday (September 17) and more tickets come online from October 1.  https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp  

Mumbai and its discontents centre stage again and wins award… again!

ANUPARNA ROY is fast becoming another darling of independent Indian cinema – following her Netpac award at this year’s festival. 
Her ‘Lovers in the Blue Night’ chronicles the existence of four migrant worker characters on the margins in Mumbai and looking for love and connection. 
Roy commented in The Hindu newspaper: “Winning the NETPAC Award means a lot to me because this film comes from a very personal place. These are characters and lives that are often pushed to the margins or looked at without really being seen.  
“I wanted to approach them with tenderness, dignity and honesty. To receive this recognition at Venice, a year after my debut was awarded here, is deeply moving. I’m grateful that the film has found a space with the audience and jury.” 
It’s her second award after being presented with the Best Director award in Venice last year for her ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees’ in the Orizzonti section. It also examines dislocated lives and compromised relationships.  
Roy is originally from a village in West Bengal and studied English Literature in the state, before making her first feature which was supported by Indian iconoclastic contemporary director Anurag Kashyap.  
Netpac is the Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema.  
See our interviews on ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees’ in 2025 here –  

From Mayfair (Dhaka) to an award

DIRECTOR Rubaiyat Hossain from Bangladesh also picked up an award for her film, ‘The Difficult Bride’ which had its world premiere at Venice.
About a bride to be and her efforts to look her best – Hossain takes us on a journey of thrill and horror as she deconstructs beauty convention, laying it bare and inviting us to ponder, according to reports. www.asianculturevulture.com has not seen it.  
The feature film which stars a newcomer – Sunera Binte Kamal and established Cannes breakout figure Azmeri Haque Badhon – won the Premio Bisato d’Oro – which is presented by an independent film critics body in Venice. 
Hossain was quoted in the Bangladesh Daily Star: “I made ‘The Difficult Bride’ from a very intimate place — thinking about the ways women learn to inhabit, discipline and sometimes fear their own bodies.  Much of the film takes place in a beauty parlour called Mayfair in Dhaka.
“To have the film recognised by independent critics in Venice is deeply meaningful to me. I hope the film can open a space for audiences to encounter Bangladesh not simply through its social realities, but through its imagination, its folklore, its darkness and its beauty.” 
Badhon starred in the first ever Bangladeshi film to feature in official selection at Cannes in 2021.  
‘Rehana Maryam Noor’ is about an woman academic who fights the system to get justice for a student whose professor is alleged to have acted improperly. There are more than echoes of MeToo in Abduallah Mohammed Saad’s film in which Badhon featured as the titular Rehana.  Here’s our chat about the world premiere screening of that film in Cannes in 2021.

Comedy classic restored to former glory…

In Venice Classics, the Dev Anand film ‘English August’ screened. Restored with some difficulty (the films had been thought lost or destroyed) by the Film Heritage Foundation (in India), this popular 1994 film is directed by Dev Benegal. Starring well-known indie actor Rahul Bose, it’s about a young, highly educated Bengali speaking civil servant being sent out to the sticks in rural India and feeling the isolation as he listens to Jazz, reads Marcus Aurelis and ponders the meaning of life amidst his humdrum working life. It’s a dry comedy in several different languages.

https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2026

Next up our Venice 2026 market snapshot and links to our Cannes Market page – we will add below – check socials to know when it is updated… (promoted)…