The first Bangladeshi film in Venice's Orizzonti was shot by a Portuguese cinematographer
Rubaiyat Hossain's The Difficult Bride took the Bisato d'Oro for best direction, awarded by independent critics. It is a Portuguese co-production, and it does not reach Portuguese cinemas until spring 2027.
Some films arrive in Portugal through the front door. Others arrive with a Portuguese signature on them that nobody was looking for. The Difficult Bride is the second kind.
Rubaiyat Hossain’s film won the Bisato d’Oro for best direction on Friday, the prize independent critics hand out alongside Venice’s official awards. And it is a co-production between Bangladesh, France, Portugal, Norway and Germany, backed by Portugal’s Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual and crewed in part by Portuguese technicians. The cinematographer is Leonor Teles.
What the film is
Zaineen is preparing her dream wedding in Dhaka. As the beauty rituals and the social expectations pile up, she starts to lose control of her own body, and the run-up to the ceremony turns into something else: an uneasy search for freedom, with the supernatural walking in through a door tradition left open. It runs 88 minutes, with Zaineen Chowdhury Karim in the lead.
It premiered on 6 September in Orizzonti, the parallel competition Venice reserves for new directions in cinema, and the premiere made history for a reason that has nothing to do with Portugal. It is the first Bangladeshi feature ever selected for that section.
Why it counts here
A minority co-production is not a Portuguese film, and it would be dishonest to sell it as one. But this is how Portuguese cinema has been travelling. The ICA puts money in, Portuguese crew go out, and the result tours festivals with a quiet line in the production credits.
In this case the line is less quiet than usual. Cinematography is the visual design of an entire film, and in a story built on rituals, bodies and one house in Dhaka, it is very nearly everything the audience sees.
The prize lands at the end of an edition where Venice had already made room for Portuguese names and for a career Golden Lion handed to George Clooney. Anyone who wants to watch it will need patience: the Portuguese release is set for spring 2027. In the meantime, Portuguese cinema is still showing up on home screens with Basil da Cunha’s O Jacaré.
By Lucy Bennett
Image: La Biennale di Venezia — official Orizzonti film card
