Secret Of A Mountain Serpent Receives Heartwarming Response At Venice International Film Festival 2025

Secrets of a Mountain Serpent, written and directed by Nidhi Saxena and executive produced by Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal under their banner Pushing Buttons Studios, had its world premiere at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. The premiere was attended by lead actors Adil Hussain and Trimala Adhikari, Richa, Ali, Nidhi, Camera D’or winner Vimukhti Jayasundara, and producer Rahul Saxena.

Secrets of a Mountain Serpent, which marks Saxena’s sophomore feature, opened the Biennale College Cinema program at the Venice Film Festival. It also received the Biennale College Cinema fund, making her the first Indian woman to bag it.

For the unversed, her debut feature, Sad Letters of an Imaginary Woman, premiered at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival, where it received a grant from the Asian Cinema Fund.

After the premiere, Saxena called it "overwhelming and emotional" because for one year, she worked on the script in the biennale script lab and direction lab. "I got such a heartwarming response from the audience after the premiere. A lot of people felt it was their own story," she added, and called it "rewarding."

Hussain shared he was "taken in by the strength of the poetic visuals and sounds." He added, "An anti-war and pro- 'freedom to love and desire' film - these two themes are interwoven with so much beauty and compassion. It's a treat to watch Nidhi's sense of cinematic aesthetic coming to life."

He is extremely happy to be a part of Nidhi's journey in cinema.

About Secret of a Mountain Serpent

Set in a remote Himalayan town during the 1999 Kargil War, the film follows the story of Barkha (Trimala Adhikari), a schoolteacher whose husband is posted at the border. In a town where most men are gone, the arrival of an outsider, Manik Guho (Adil Hussain), ignites her desire and memory. It revives a myth of a waiting serpent in the river.

Secret Of A Mountain Serpent is produced by Forest Flower Films, Cannes fame Jayasundara and Pushing Buttons Studios.