Bidhan Rebeiro to attend Venice and Budapest as a film critic

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. The festival will take place at the Venice Lido from 2 to 12 September 2026. Rebeiro is the editor and publisher of Cut To Cinema. It is an English-language monthly film magazine published from Dhaka.

Organised by La Biennale di Venezia, this year’s festival has 21 feature films in the main Venezia 83 Competition. The programme also includes Orizzonti and Venice Spotlight. Other sections include Venice Open, Venice Classics and Venice Immersive. Orizzonti is dedicated to new aesthetic and expressive directions in international cinema. It has a maximum of 19 feature films in competition.

Bangladesh is represented in Orizzonti this year by Rubaiyat Hossain’s The Difficult Bride. The 88-minute film is an international co-production involving Bangladesh, France, Portugal, Norway and Germany. Set in Dhaka, it follows a bride-to-be named Zaineen as preparations for her wedding take an increasingly unsettling turn. The Difficult Bride is the first feature-length film from Bangladesh to be selected at the Venice Film Festival. Ishtiaque Zico’s short film 720 Degrees had previously been selected for Orizzonti in 2010.

The 2026 programme also includes new works by filmmakers mentioned by Rebeiro among those he hopes to follow at Venice. Werner Herzog’s Bucking Fastard is competing in Venezia 83. Wim Wenders’ From Inside Out: The Architecture of Peter Zumthor and Lav Diaz’s Makikiraan po (Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors) are part of Venice Open.

Speaking about his plans for Venice, Rebeiro said:

“The 83rd edition of the Venice International Film Festival is important to me for several reasons. First of all, for the first time in the history of Bangladeshi cinema, a Bangladeshi film, The Difficult Bride, directed by Rubaiyat Hossain, has been officially selected for a competitive section of the festival.

Another significant reason is that this year marks the 100th anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to Italy, which makes the occasion particularly meaningful for us in Bangladesh.

Besides these two reasons, this year’s festival has also been curated with films by many great contemporary auteurs, including Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog, Lav Diaz and many others. So, I am really excited to be attending the festival this year.

After finishing the Venice International Film Festival, I will travel to Budapest to attend the 9th edition of the Budapest Classics Film Marathon, where I have been invited as a film critic to attend the opening ceremony. There in Budapest I will attend the General Assembly of FIPRESCI too.

All together, this year’s journey is going to be a very special and memorable one for me.”

Tagore travelled to Italy in both 1925 and 1926. The year 2026 therefore marks a century since his 1926 visit to the country. His encounters with Italy during this period later became an important chapter in discussions of Tagore's relationship with Europe.

Following Venice, Rebeiro will travel to Hungary for the 9th Budapest Classics Film Marathon. The festival is organised by Hungary’s National Film Institute and will take place from 15 to 20 September. Its programme focuses on restored films and works from international film heritage. The opening gala on 16 September will feature Queen Budapest.

Rebeiro has said that he will also attend the General Assembly of the International Federation of Film Critics during his stay in Budapest. FIPRESCI has previously held its annual General Assembly in Budapest within the framework of the Budapest Classics Film Marathon.

The visits will take Rebeiro from a festival centred on current international cinema in Venice to a programme focused on film heritage and restoration in Budapest. From both events he will attend in his capacity as a film critic while representing Cut To Cinema as its editor.