Bangladeshi film critic and writer Bidhan Rebeiro is set to attend the 83rd Venice International Film Festival as a film critic and editor of Cut To Cinema, an English-language monthly film magazine published in Dhaka.
Organised by La Biennale di Venezia, the festival will take place at Venice Lido from 2 to 12 September.
This year’s programme features 21 films competing in the main Venezia 83 section, alongside categories including Orizzonti, Venice Spotlight, Venice Open, Venice Classics and Venice Immersive.
Bangladesh will have a notable presence at the festival, with Rubaiyat Hossain’s The Difficult Bride selected for the Orizzonti section.
The 88-minute film is an international co-production involving Bangladesh, France, Portugal, Norway and Germany.
The selection marks the first time a feature-length Bangladeshi film has been chosen for the Venice Film Festival.
Earlier, Ishtiaque Zico’s short film 720 Degrees was selected for the Orizzonti section in 2010.
Rebeiro said the inclusion of The Difficult Bride has made this year’s Venice Film Festival particularly significant for him.
He also pointed out that 2026 marks 100 years since Rabindranath Tagore visited Italy in 1926.
The festival’s programme also includes films by internationally acclaimed directors Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders and Lav Diaz.
Herzog’s Bucking Fastard is competing in the Venezia 83 section, while Wenders’ From Inside Out: The Architecture of Peter Zumthor and Diaz’s Makikiraan po (Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors) will be screened in the Venice Open section.
Following his visit to Venice, Rebeiro will travel to Hungary to attend the ninth Budapest Classics Film Marathon, scheduled to run from 15 to 20 September.
Organised by Hungary’s National Film Institute, the festival is dedicated to restored films and the preservation of international cinematic heritage.
Rebeiro has been invited to attend the festival’s opening ceremony in his capacity as a film critic.
During his stay in Budapest, he will also take part in the General Assembly of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).
The two festivals will offer Rebeiro the opportunity to engage with both contemporary international cinema and the preservation of film history, while representing Cut To Cinema as its editor and film critic.
