Film archive, 2026

The Difficult Bride

Director Rubaiyat HOSSAIN

1Festival entries

★Avg. rating

Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Difficult Bride follows young bride-to-be under pressure to be an ideal bride, becoming consumed by physical and mental disorder. The film opens with Zaineen at a beauty salon. As her family and those around her demand that she lose weight, lighten her skin, and dress beautifully, her mental state begins to unravel; she hallucinates a mysterious bride. Rubaiyat Hossain's story was inspired by an urban legend she heard at a beauty salon: "a bride died here mysteriously." Using the body horror genre, the film criticizes patriarchal society for imposing specific physical appearances and norms on women.

Stills2

Film details

Director: Rubaiyat HOSSAIN
Country/Region: France, Bangladesh, Portugal, Norway, Germany
Year: 2026
Length: 87min
Original language: Bangla
Elsewhere: Letterboxd IMDb Wikidata TMDB Douban

Director

Rubaiyat HOSSAIN

©Aurélie Lamachère Rubaiyat Hossain is one of the few contemporary female filmmakers from Bangladesh. She has been teaching Gender, Cinema and South Asia studies at Smith College since 2023. As a filmmaker, Hossain uses a gender sensitive lens in her cinema and has recently launched a grant to support women filmmakers in Bangladesh.

From Tokyo International Film Festival 2026, No. 39

Credits

Director: Rubaiyat HOSSAIN
Screenplay: Rubaiyat HOSSAIN
Cinematography: Leonor Teles
Editing: Raphaëlle Martin-Hölger
Music: Jim Williams
Production design: Jonaki Bhattacharya
Costume: Jonaki Bhattacharya
Makeup: Olga José
Casting: Dipto Sarker
Cast: Zaineen Chowdhury Karim, Saberi Alam Motaher, Azmeri Haque, Reekita Nondine Shimu, Sunerah Binte Kamal, Shatabdi Wadud, Dameer Khan

Festival appearances1

Choose a festival entry to see its screenings, articles and audience reviews.

The Difficult BrideTokyo International Film Festival 2026, No. 39Competition

Festival history1

东京国际电影节, 2026Competition, Competitive section

Film posters

Poster language