Rubaiyat Hossain’s psychological horror film ‘The Difficult Bride’ has been selected for the Orizzonti competition at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. The selection marks the first time a Bangladeshi film has secured a place at the Venice festival, according to the report. The film will have its world premiere during the festival in Venice, Italy, scheduled from September 2 to 12.

The film will compete in the festival’s Horizons section, with the selected titles announced on Thursday. In 2010, Ishtiaq Zico’s short film ‘720 Degrees’ was selected for the Orizzonti section, becoming Bangladesh’s first short film to participate at the festival. Khona Talkies, which produced that short film, is the Bangladeshi co-producer of ‘The Difficult Bride.’

Set around Dhaka’s historic Mayfair beauty parlour, the story follows a young woman named Zaineen as she arrives to prepare for her wedding and becomes drawn into an unsettling world involving beauty, body, belief, memory and fear. Zaineen Chowdhury Karim plays the lead role, with Rikita Nandini Shimu and Sunerah Kamal in supporting roles. Hossain and several cast members will join the festival delegation.