Bangladesh is heading to the Tokyo International Film Festival’s main Competition for the first time, with Rubaiyat Hossain’s The Difficult Bride selected for the 39th edition.
Hossain’s fourth feature is among 15 films chosen from 1,892 submissions from 112 countries and regions, representing 31 countries and regions. It marks the first time a Bangladeshi film has entered the festival’s main Competition.
A Bangladesh-France-Portugal-Norway-Germany co-production, The Difficult Bride follows a bride-to-be in Dhaka as wedding preparations, beauty rituals, family expectations and social pressures push her into an unsettling world. Blending reality with dreams, fears, memories and supernatural elements, it explores women’s bodies and desires, beauty ideals and traditions surrounding marriage.
The film has already screened at the Venice and Toronto international film festivals. In Tokyo, it will compete alongside films from Argentina, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Singapore, among others.
The 39th festival runs from 26 October to 4 November under the theme “Connecting — Cinema Connects Us to the World Beyond”. It will screen 204 films, up from 184 last year, alongside more than 200 films and related events across Hibiya, Yurakucho, Marunouchi and Ginza.
The Competition jury will be led by Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer, joined by Alex Lo, Oh Jungwan, Yov Moor and Watanabe Makiko.
The festival opens with Takahisa Zeze’s Sukiyaki, closes with Yeon Sang-ho’s Colony and features Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero as its Centerpiece. Other sections include Asian Future, Nippon Cinema Now, Gala Selection, World Focus, Animation, Women’s Empowerment, Youth, Japanese Classics and CROSSCUT ASIA+.
For Bangladesh, however, the significance is simple: after nearly four decades of the Tokyo festival, The Difficult Bride is the first Bangladeshi film to reach its main Competition.
