Parallax has acquired international sales rights to Anuparna Roy’s “Lovers in the Blue Night”, ahead of its world premiere in the Horizons competition at the Venice Film Festival. The deal strengthens the international profile of Roy, who became the first Indian filmmaker to win the Horizons best director award last year for her debut, “Songs of Forgotten Trees”.

Set in Mumbai’s nightlife, the film follows four migrants, including a husband concealing his sexuality, his isolated bar-worker wife, a petty criminal and a sex worker, as they seek survival, belonging and connection. It is produced by Vikas Kumar, Sharib Khan, Bibhanshu Rai and Romil Modi, with further producers based in the US and UK; Roy wrote the story, while the cast includes Neelima Sharma, Pritam Pilania and Bhushan Shimpi.