Bangladeshi film critic and writer Bidhan Rebeiro will attend the 83rd Venice International Film Festival as a film critic and editor of Cut To Cinema, an English-language monthly film magazine published from Dhaka.
Organised by La Biennale di Venezia, the festival will be held at Venice Lido from September 2 to 12. This year’s programme includes 21 films in the main Venezia 83 Competition, along with sections such as Orizzonti, Venice Spotlight, Venice Open, Venice Classics and Venice Immersive.
Bangladesh will be represented in the Orizzonti section by Rubaiyat Hossain’s “The Difficult Bride”. The 88-minute film is an international co-production between Bangladesh, France, Portugal, Norway and Germany. It is the first feature-length film from Bangladesh to be selected for the Venice Film Festival. Ishtiaque Zico’s short film “720 Degrees” was previously selected for Orizzonti in 2010.
Rebeiro said he is particularly excited about this year’s festival because of the selection of “The Difficult Bride”. He also noted that 2026 marks 100 years since Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to Italy in 1926.
The festival also features works by acclaimed filmmakers including Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders and Lav Diaz. Herzog’s “Bucking Fastard” is competing in Venezia 83, while Wenders’ “From Inside Out: The Architecture of Peter Zumthor” and Diaz’s “Makikiraan po” (Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors) are part of Venice Open.
After Venice, Rebeiro will travel to Budapest to attend the ninth Budapest Classics Film Marathon, which will run from September 15 to 20. Organised by Hungary’s National Film Institute, the festival focuses on restored films and international film heritage.
Rebeiro has been invited to attend the festival’s opening ceremony as a film critic. He will also attend the General Assembly of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) during his stay in Budapest.
The journey will take Rebeiro from Venice’s celebration of contemporary international cinema to Budapest’s focus on film heritage and restoration, representing Cut To Cinema in his capacity as its editor and film critic.
