Bangladeshi filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain’s The Difficult Bride has been selected for the Official Competition of the 70th BFI London Film Festival, where it will compete for the festival’s Best Film Award.
The France-Bangladesh-Portugal-Norway-Germany co-production is one of 10 films in the BFI London competition. The festival runs from Oct. 7-18, with the winner of the Official Competition to be announced Oct. 18.
The selection extends an international festival run for Hossain’s fourth feature. The Difficult Bride was presented in the Orizzonti Competition at the Venice International Film Festival before its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
At Venice, the film was presented in Orizzonti, the festival’s competition dedicated to films representing new aesthetic and expressive trends in contemporary cinema. At TIFF, it was selected for the Centrepiece programme.
The film follows Zaineen, a bride-to-be preparing for her wedding who begins to resist the beauty rituals and social restrictions imposed on her. As the preparations intensify, she experiences strange physical changes, visions and omens.
The BFI describes The Difficult Bride as a feminist body horror that uses supernatural elements to examine patriarchal values beneath the conventions of a wedding celebration.
Hossain directs and writes the 88-minute film. The cast includes Zaineen Chowdhury Karim, Rikita Nondine Shimu, Sunerah Binte Kamal, Azmeri Haque, Dameer Khan, Saberi Alam, Shatabdi Wadud and Mohammed Bari.
The film is produced by Les Films de l’Après-Midi, Midas Filmes, Khona Talkies, Barentsfilm and Tandem Production. Films Boutique handles world sales.
At BFI London, The Difficult Bride will compete alongside nine other titles for the festival’s Best Film Award. The Official Competition is one of the festival’s principal competitive sections.
