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Secret of a Mountain Serpent

Set in a remote Himalayan town during the Kargil War, Secret of a Mountain Serpent tells the intimate story of Barkha, a schoolteacher whose husband is away at the border. In a place where most men are gone and the days echo with silence, Barkha finds herself drawn to Manik Guho, a mysterious outsider who disrupts the fragile balance of waiting, restraint, and myth. As his presence reawakens long-buried yearnings—in Barkha and the other women of the village—a whispered local folklore comes alive: a serpent that lives in the forbidden river, still waiting after a thousand years for the promise of love unkept. This is a poetic exploration of desire and freedom, where myth and memory blur, inviting both women and men into a deeply sensual, haunting journey through love, longing, and transformation.

  • Nidhi Saxena
    Director
    Sad Letters of an Imaginary Woman
  • Nidhi Saxena
    Writer
    Sad Letters of an Imaginary Woman
  • Vimukthi Jayasundara
    Producer
  • Adil Hussain
    Key Cast
    "Manik Guho"
    Life of Pi(2012), Hotel Salvation(2016)
  • Trimala Adhikari
    Key Cast
    "Barkha"
    Haramkhor(2015), chalti Rahe Zindagi(2024)
  • Pushpendra Singh
    Key Cast
    "Sudhir"
  • Richa Meena
    Key Cast
    "Champa"
    Mardaani(2019), Last film show (2021)
  • Rahul Saxena
    Executive Producer
    Sad Letters of an Imaginary Woman
  • Ram Kumar Singh
    executive producer
  • Ajender Singh Chawla
    Creative Producer
    Sad letters of an Imaginary Woman
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 47 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    August 12, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    200,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    India, Italy, Sri Lanka
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Hindi
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:66
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Venice International Film Festival
    Venice
    Italy
    August 28, 2025
    World Premier
    https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2025/biennale-college-cinema/secret-mountain-serpent
  • Bangkok International Film Festival
    Bangkok
    Thailand
    October 14, 2025
    Asian
    New Voice Award
  • Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF)
    Vancouver
    Canada
    September 12, 2025
    North American Premiere
Distribution Information
  • The Open Reel
    Sales Agent
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Nidhi Saxena

Nidhi Saxena is an Indian filmmaker whose work delves
into human vulnerability and existential themes through
a poetic, meditative lens. With a formal background in
sculpture and fine arts, she transitioned to cinema
after training at the Film and Television Institute of
India. Her cinematic voice—deeply influenced by auteurs
like Tsai Ming-Liang and Apichatpong Weerasethakul—often
transcends conventional narratives to explore
abstraction and the spiritual.
Nidhi is the first Indian woman director to receive both
the Asian Cinema Fund (Post-Production) and a grant from
Biennale College Cinema. Her debut feature, Sad Letters
of an Imaginary Woman, premiered at the 2024 Busan
International Film Festival and later screened at
festivals across North America, Australia, India, and
other countries. Her second feature, Secret of a
Mountain Serpent, developed at the Venice Biennale
College Cinema Script Lab, received production support
and is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival in
August 2025. She is currently developing her third
feature.
She has led several acclaimed independent projects and
social storytelling initiatives, including a powerful
program for the UN Population Fund, where she trained
tribal adolescent girls in Rajasthan to become
filmmakers and express their lived realities through
cinema. As a writer, she has authored two children’s
books: Chidiya Ud, about a boy who believes he is a
bird, and Bulbul-e Paristan, a poetic tale filled with
wonder and longing. Both works reflect her deep love for
imagination, memory, and the unseen worlds that shape
us.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I wanted to explore the desires that women carry silently—desires that may not break
into escape, but pulse beneath the skin. Secret of a Mountain Serpent is a story that
speaks not just to women but anyone who has ever lived between duty and longing. It
asks: Can you belong to someone, and still belong to yourself? Using nature, folklore,
and emotion as storytelling tools, I’ve shaped a world in which desire itself becomes a
mythic force—a serpent of transformation that can never be captured or silenced.