The Difficult Bride enters unprecedented global festival run

Rubaiyat Hossain’s fourth feature film, The Difficult Bride, has been selected for nine major international film festivals across Europe, North America and Asia within a month of its world premiere at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival.

The film made its world premiere in the Orizzonti Competition at Venice and has since been invited to festivals in Canada, Spain, the UK, France, the US, Japan and Austria. According to the report, no Bangladeshi feature film has previously had such an extensive festival run.

Hossain previously directed Meherjaan (2011), Under Construction (2015) and Made in Bangladesh (2019). Made in Bangladesh screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, while Hossain won the National Film Award for Best Director for the film.

Following its Venice premiere, The Difficult Bride screened at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival in the Centrepiece section, where it had its North American premiere on September 16, 17 and 18.

Its upcoming festival selections include the Vancouver International Film Festival in the Panorama section from October 1 to 11, the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival in Spain in the Noves Visions Competition from October 9 to 18, and the BFI London Film Festival in the Official Competition from October 7 to 18, where it is in contention for Best Film.

The film will also screen at the La Roche-sur-Yon International Film Festival in France, the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival in the International Feature Competition, the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival in the Main Competition and the 63rd Viennale, Vienna International Film Festival.

At the centre of The Difficult Bride is Zainin, a lower-middle-class mother of two who regularly visits a beauty salon in Dhaka. There, she faces pressure to become fairer, slimmer and more “bride-like”.

Home remedies, charms, diets, makeovers, family expectations, social pressures and television serials gradually turn her body into something to be monitored and judged.

Hossain explores the surveillance, judgement and control imposed on a woman’s body, asking what happens when that body learns to say “no”. The film presents not a fairytale bride, but one who refuses to conform.

The story grew from an idea Hossain had carried for seven years. At the age of seven, she heard a story about a bride who died in a beauty salon in Dhaka. The incident stayed with her and eventually inspired the film.

The cast includes Jainin Chowdhury Karim, Rikita Nandini Shimu, Sunerah Binte Kamal, Azmeri Haque Badhan, Damer Khan, Shatabdi Wadud, Saberi Alam and Mohammad Bari.

The Difficult Bride is a co-production between Bangladesh’s Khona Talkies and partners in France, Portugal, Norway and Germany. The film received support from Eurimages of the Council of Europe, France’s CNC and Cinema du Monde, Portugal’s Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual, Italy’s Fondazione Prada Film Fund, Norway’s Sorfond and Germany’s World Cinema Fund.

“I am truly grateful that the film is touching so many people. Festivals are important because people who attend them do not see cinema only as entertainment. They see it as a way of thinking about life differently,” Hossain said.

“I am happy that within just one month, the film has reached such diverse audiences,” she added.