Bangladeshi filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain’s The Difficult Bride has reached another major international milestone with its selection for the 51st Toronto International Film Festival, running from 10 to 20 September in Canada.
The selection follows Hossain’s historic achievement at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, where the National Film Award-winning director became the first Bangladeshi filmmaker to have a feature nominated for the Orizzonti section.
The back-to-back selections mark a significant moment for Bangladeshi and Bengali cinema.
The psychological supernatural horror is set in Dhaka’s iconic Mayfair beauty parlour. It follows Zainin, a young bride who arrives to prepare for her wedding but soon enters a mysterious world where beauty, memory, faith and fear collide.
Hossain drew inspiration from an urban legend she heard as a child while visiting the parlour with her mother. She later saw it as more than a ghost story, reflecting cultural expectations around women, beauty and marriage in Bangladesh.
“I worked on the script for almost twenty years,” Hossain said. “But the film itself was shot in just 26 days.” Principal photography ran from 8 June to 8 July 2025.
Zaineen Chowdhury Karim leads the cast alongside Azmeri Haque Badhan, Rikita Nandini Shimu and Sunerah Kamal. Shatabdi Wadud, Saberi Alam, Mohammad Bari and Dameer Khan also feature.
France’s Les Films de l’Après-Midi produced the film with Midash Filmes of Portugal, Bangladesh’s Khona Talkies, Norway’s Barentsfilm AS and Germany’s Tandem Production. Films Boutique handles international sales.
The project received support from Eurimages, France’s Centre National du Cinéma, Portugal’s Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual, Norway’s Sørfond, Germany’s World Cinema Fund and Italy’s Fondazione Prada Film Fund.
Only 14 projects were selected from more than 1,200 submissions to the latter, with The Difficult Bride the sole post-production selection.
The film also joined the EAVE Producers Workshop, Berlinale Co-Production Market and Les Arcs Film Festival’s Work in Progress programme.
Post-production took place in Paris and Lisbon, with the final sound mix in Paris. Nearly every creative department was led by women, with contributors from Bangladesh, France, Portugal, Germany, Norway and the United States.
British musician Jim Williams, known for Raw and Palme d’Or winner Titane, composed the score.
Hossain hopes audiences experience The Difficult Bride as “a mysterious, atmospheric and deeply emotional supernatural journey” that lingers after the film ends.
