Bangladeshi filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain has added another major international achievement to her career, as her latest feature film The Difficult Bride has been selected for the 51st Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), scheduled to take place in Canada from 10 to 20 September.
The selection comes shortly after the National Film Award-winning director made history with The Difficult Bride becoming the first Bangladeshi feature to be nominated in the “Orijinti” section of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.
The back-to-back selections at two of the world’s most prestigious film festivals mark a significant milestone for Bangladeshi and Bengali cinema.
A psychological supernatural horror film, The Difficult Bride is set in Dhaka’s iconic Mayfair beauty parlour.
The story follows a young bride named Zainin, who arrives at the salon to prepare for her wedding but soon finds herself drawn into a mysterious and unsettling world where beauty, memory, faith and fear become intertwined.
According to Hossain, the film was inspired by an urban legend she first heard as a child while visiting the historic beauty parlour with her mother.
Over the years, she realised the story extended beyond a ghost tale, reflecting the cultural expectations surrounding 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 thanks to years of preparation, multiple script drafts and an extraordinary international production team.”
Principal photography began on 8 June 2025, and concluded on 8 July, with filming completed across 26 days.
Post-production was carried out in Paris, France, and Lisbon, Portugal, while the final sound mix was completed in Paris.
The film introduces Zainin Chowdhury Karim in the lead role alongside National Film Award-winning actresses Ajmeri Haque Badhon, Rikita Nandini Shimu and Sunerah Kamal.
Veteran actors Shatabdi Wadud, Saberi Alam, Mohammad Bari and Damir Khan also play significant roles.
Produced by France’s Les Films de l’Après-Midi, The Difficult Bride is an international co-production involving Portugal’s Midash Filmes, Bangladesh’s Khona Talkies, Norway’s Barentsfilm AS and Germany’s Tandem Production.
International sales are being handled by Films Boutique.
The project has received support from several prestigious international funding organisations, including Eurimages of the Council of Europe, 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.
Notably, among more than 1,200 submissions to the inaugural Fondazione Prada Film Fund, only 14 projects were selected, with The Difficult Bride becoming the only film to receive support during its post-production stage.
The film also participated in major international industry platforms, including the EAVE Producers Workshop, the Berlinale Co-Production Market and the Les Arcs Film Festival’s Work in Progress programme.
Highlighting the collaborative nature of the production, Hossain noted that nearly every creative department was led by women, with artists and technicians from Bangladesh, France, Portugal, Germany, Norway and the United States contributing to the project.
The score was composed by acclaimed British musician Jim Williams, known for his work on Raw and the Palme d’Or-winning Titane.
Describing the film, Hossain said she hopes audiences experience “The Difficult Bride as a mysterious, atmospheric and deeply emotional supernatural journey” that continues to resonate long after the film ends.
