Rubaiyat Hossain’s The Difficult Bride had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on Saturday, September 5, marking what the film’s team describes as the first participation of a Bangladeshi feature-length film at the prestigious festival.

Selected for the Orizzonti competition section of the festival’s 83rd edition, the film’s first screening took place at 7pm local time at the Sala Casino theatre in Palazzo del Cinema, the festival’s main venue. It was screened again later that day and had a second-day screening at 2:15pm on Sunday at the Sala Darsena theatre.

Two further screenings are scheduled for Monday, at 4:30pm at Astra 2 and 5pm at Astra 1. The festival, which began on September 2, will continue until September 12.

According to the film’s team, Hossain had been developing the idea for The Difficult Bride for nearly two decades. A story she heard at a beauty parlour during her childhood, along with memories that stayed with her over the years, eventually became the foundation for a film centred on a beauty parlour in Dhaka, a wedding and a childhood fear.

“Through the film, we wanted to question what we understand by beauty,” Rubaiyat said. “We tried to show how much pain can lie beneath the process of beautification. The film explores how society, through the beauty parlour, manufactures a girl into a woman according to an artificial mould.”

Hossain also incorporated memories of being frightened by the sight of brides crying at weddings during her childhood as another layer of the film’s narrative.

Another notable aspect of The Difficult Bride is its predominantly women-led creative team. With the exception of the background score composer, the heads of all departments are women.

Portuguese filmmaker Leonor Teles, a Golden Bear winner at the Berlin International Film Festival, served as cinematographer, while Frederica R Gomes was the chief lighting technician. France’s Raphaëlle Martin-Holger handled editing, with India’s Jonaki Bhattacharya overseeing production design.

Speaking about working with a women-led team, Hossain said, “This film proved the notion wrong that women cannot make good cinema. From the sound mixer and sound designer to the technicians across departments, their skill and pace of work were remarkable.”

Zaineen Chowdhury Karim plays the lead role. She had worked as an assistant director on the project for a year and a half before being selected for the role through an audition. Despite it being her acting debut, Hossain praised her performance.

Reekita Nondine Shimu and Sunerah Binte Kamal also feature in the film. Sunerah has no dialogue throughout the film, with Hossain praising her professionalism during production.

For Shimu, this marks her second appearance at the Venice festival, having previously attended with Once Upon a Time in Calcutta. Azmeri Haque Badhan and Dameer Khan make guest appearances.

Most of the film’s cast and crew have travelled to Venice for the festival.

The Difficult Bride is an international co-production involving France, Portugal, Norway and Germany, alongside Bangladesh’s Khona Talkies.

According to Hossain, the film is expected to have further international premieres across Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East later this year, while audiences in Bangladesh are expected to be able to watch it next year.