The 76th iteration of the Berlin International Film Festival is currently taking place in Germany. Commencing on February 12, this year’s festival is set to wrap up on February 22. Amid the festivities, the recipients of the Fondazione Prada Film Fund awards have been revealed.
A total of fourteen films from various nations have been chosen to receive this esteemed grant. Notably, Bangladeshi filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain’s “The Difficult Bride” is among the selected projects. This is the second time the film has secured funding at one of the world’s premier film platforms. In 2022, the project received €50,000 at the 37th session of the World Cinema Fund. This time around, “The Difficult Bride” has been granted €80,000, which equates to approximately Tk11.6 million.
The official announcement of the selected feature films was made on February 13 during a special event. This marks the first instance of Fondazione Prada financing full-length feature films. The 14 chosen projects will collectively share €1.5 million in funding, surpassing Tk 210 million.
Rubaiyat has already wrapped up filming for “The Difficult Bride.” The cast features National Film Award-winning actors Azmeri Haque Badhan, Reekita Nondine Shimu, and Sunerah Binte Kamal, alongside newcomer Zaineen Karim Chowdhury in the lead role.
The narrative centers on a young woman with aspirations of a fairy-tale wedding but grapples with an incurable illness that defies conventional remedies. Struggling under increasing psychological pressure, she begins to experience hallucinations. The film, blending social realism with elements of horror, delves into the internal psychological conflict of a woman, as per the director’s vision.
Produced by François d’Artemare (France), Anna Katchko (Germany), Pedro Borges (Portugal), Ingrid Lill Høgtun (Norway), and Hossain (Bangladesh), “The Difficult Bride” involves production companies such as Les Films de l’Après-midi (France), Tandem Productions (Germany), Midas Filmes (Portugal), Barentsfilm AS (Norway), and Khona Talkies (Bangladesh).
Below is the list of all the winners:
– The Sleeping Woman: Directed by Daria Martin, United Kingdom, Ireland
– Amarcord’90 (working title): Directed by Yuri Ancarani, Italy
– Captions Will be Needed: Directed by Natalia Almada, Mexico, United States
– Cosmofonia: Directed by Verena Paravel, France, United Kingdom
– Galerna: Directed by Tatiana Huezo, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland
– Jenjira’s Magnificent Dream: Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Colombia, the Netherlands, France, Mexico, Thailand
– Las Italianas: Directed by Laura Citarella, Argentina, France, Germany, Italy
– Mulatresse Solitude: Directed by Baloji, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, South Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
– On Land and Sea: Directed by Hlynur Pálmason, Denmark, Iceland, France, Finland, Sweden
– Summer in Heat: Directed by Levan Akin, Sweden, Germany, France
– The Costume: Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu, France, Germany, Romania
– The Difficult Bride: Directed by Rubaiyat Hossain, Bangladesh, France, Portugal, Norway, Germany
– The Hallucinations: Directed by Andrea Gatopoulos, France, Italy, Greece
– The Human Purge: Directed by Eduardo Williams, Argentina