Nidhi Saxena’s ‘Secret Of A Mountain Serpent’ receives a heart-warming response at the World Premiere at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival 2025

Nidhi Saxena’s Secret Of A Mountain Serpent’s World Premiere at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival 2025 receives a heartwarming response The Premiere was attended by lead actors Adil Hussain and Trimala Adhikari, Cannes winner producer Vimukhti Jayasundara, Executive producers Richa Chadha, Ali Fazal and producer Rahul Saxena alongside filmmaker Nidhi Saxena.

Nidhi Saxena’s second feature Opened the Biennale College Cinema program at the Venice Film Festival. The film won the Biennale College Cinema fund, making Nidhi the first Indian woman to win it.

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.

Secret Of A Mountain Serpent is produced by Forest Flower Film along with Camera D’or winner, Cannes fame Vimukhti Jayasundara and Executive Produced by Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal’s Pushing Buttons Studios. Key crew includes production designer Avni Goyal, editor Saman Alvitigala, and sound designer Neeraj Gera, with coloring at Bridge Postworks. The film is a co-production between India, Italy, and Sri Lanka.

After the premiere, director Nidhi Saxena says, “It was so overwhelming and emotional because for one year I worked on the script in the biennale script lab and direction lab. So all those people were there and it felt like a full circle. I got such a heartwarming response from the audience after the premiere. A lot of people felt it was their own story. That was very rewarding.”

Actor Adil Hussain says, “I was taken in by the strength of the poetic Visuals and Sounds. 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. I am extremely happy to be a part of her journey in Cinema.”

Vimukhti Jayasundara, the Cannes’ Caméra d’Or winner Srilankan filmmaker who has collaborated with Nidhi on both her films as a producer says, “The film is the fastest way to go back in time, and to see the unseen and we are very proud of making it.”

Executive Producer Richa Chadha says, “It was heartening to see Secret of a Mountain Serpent for the very first time , as it was intended, on the big screen. An experimental film of this nature would not be possible without the backing of the Venice College Fund. Nidhi has a unique voice and vision.”

During the 1999 Kargil War, in a remote Himalayan town emptied of men, a school teacher drifts through absence and quiet until a mysterious outsider unsettles her world. His arrival revives a myth of a waiting serpent in the river, stirring desire and memory in equal measure.

About the Director

Nidhi Saxena is an Indian writer and filmmaker with a background in painting, sculpture, and literature. Her artistic work centers on emotional interiority, mythology, and the daily nuances of women’s lives. Her debut feature, Sad Letters of an Imaginary Woman, premiered at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival to international acclaim.

With Secret of a Mountain Serpent, selected as a Finalist Project by Biennale College Cinema 2024–25, she extends her exploration into feminine solitude, community memory, and the quiet rebellion of desire.