Gitanjali Rao’s animated feature film, Bombay Rose will have its World Premiere as the opening film of Critics Week at the Venice International Film Festival on August 29th, 2019.

Bombay Rose is the first Indian Animation Film ever selected to open Venice Critic’s Week.

The film is the long-awaited feature debut of India’s leading animator Gitanjali Rao. Gitanjali’s five animated short films, Blue, Orange, Printed Rainbow, Chai and TrueLoveStory have been to over 150 film festivals and received 30 awards. ‘Printed Rainbow’ won three awards in Cannes Critic’s Week 2006 where it premiered and was short-listed for the Oscars in 2008. Gitanjali Rao also made her award-nominated film debut as an actress in Shoojit Sircar’s acclaimed film, October.

Says Gitanjali Rao, “I have always wanted to paint stories about people who live and love in the streets of Bombay, never become success stories, yet their struggle for survival makes heroes out of them. This is the city with its cast of unsung heroes and heroines that I want to share with the world and why I started this labour of love 6 years ago. My hand painted short films have travelled the globe and I have found connections to my films in the most unusual places. From Cannes to Kanpur. These fans of my stories give me confidence that my first feature film, Bombay Rose, about simple people with their simple yet impossible dreams can connect with people around the world. I am thrilled that Bombay Rose will be the first Indian animation film to open Venice Critics Week.”

Bombay Rose is the story of a flower seller who has to make the choice between protecting her family or allowing herself to fall in love. This touching story is set on the streets of Mumbai and moves from real life to fantasy, accompanied by much-loved Bollywood songs from the cinema halls. Painted frame by frame, for which Gitanjali is famed, Bombay Rose is a chronicle of the people who migrate from small towns, seeking minimal life in the maximum city.