Secrets of a Mountain Serpent (SOMS), directed by Nidhi Saxena, has welcomed Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal as producers through their banner Pushing Buttons Studios. The film, co-produced with (Camera D’or winner, Cannes fame Vimukhti Jayasundara’s) Forest Flower Film, is set to make its world premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Her debut feature, Sad Letters of an Imaginary Woman, premiered at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival to great acclaim. Nidhi is the first Indian woman to win the Biennale College Fund grant for Secrets of a Mountain Serpent.
The film is set in a remote Himalayan town during the 1990s, and narrates the intimate story of Barkha, a schoolteacher whose husband is posted at the border. Barkha is played by Trimala Adhikari. In a place where most men are gone and days echo with silence, Barkha finds herself drawn to Manik Guho, a mysterious outsider who disrupts the fragile balance of waiting, restraint, and myth. Manik is played by Adil Hussain.
Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal, who launched Pushing Buttons Studios to champion authentic, emotionally driven storytelling, in a joint statement, said: “We were immediately drawn to Nidhi’s lyrical vision. This is a story rooted in myth and yet is startlingly relevant today. At PBS, we believe in backing storytellers who take creative risks and Nidhi has crafted something singular, poetic, and soulful.”
Nidhi, who also wrote the film, welcomed the new creative partnership, “This film is about women who chose to risk everything and follow their desires, shedding the burden of moralities imposed upon them by the world. I was looking for kindred collaborators and this feels like a meeting of minds and hearts. It also feels like we no longer need to borrow men’s voices to tell our stories. We have our own voice, which is strong, with femininity”.
Secrets of a Mountain Serpent will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in August 2025.
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