Bangladeshi filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain’s “The Difficult Bride” has won the Independent Film Critics Award at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, adding another landmark achievement to Bangladesh’s historic debut at the prestigious festival.
The award, known as the Premio Bisato d’Oro, is presented by the Independent Film Critics.
Set around a beauty parlour in Dhaka, a wedding and a childhood fear, the film explores beauty, femininity and the social pressures surrounding the transformation of girls into women.
The film was selected for the Orizzonti competition section, where it had its world premiere on 5 September at the Sala Casino theatre in Venice’s Palazzo del Cinema.
It was screened again the following day at 2:15pm local time at the Sala Darsena theatre, followed by screenings on Monday at Astra 2 and Astra 1.
The festival began on 2 September and concludes today (12 September).
The film’s team described its selection as the first participation of a Bangladeshi feature film at the Venice International Film Festival.
The film has a predominantly women-led creative team. Portuguese filmmaker Leonor Teles served as cinematographer, while Frederica R Gomes worked as chief lighting technician. France’s Raphaëlle Martin-Holger handled editing, and India’s Jonaki Bhattacharya oversaw production design.
Rubaiyat had been developing the idea for “The Difficult Bride” for nearly two decades, inspired by a childhood incident she heard at a beauty parlour and memories of brides crying at weddings.
Zaineen Chowdhury Karim plays the lead role in her acting debut. She had previously worked as an assistant director on the project for around a year and a half before being selected through an audition.
Reekita Nondine Shimu and Sunerah Binte Kamal also feature in the film, while Azmeri Haque Badhan and Dameer Khan make guest appearances. Shimu is attending the Venice festival for the second time, following her appearance with “Once Upon a Time in Calcutta”.
“The Difficult Bride” is an international co-production between France, Portugal, Norway and Germany, with Bangladesh’s Khona Talkies also involved in the production.
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