Brides (2025 film)
Brides is a 2025 British-Italian drama directed by Nadia Fall, with a screenplay by Suhayla El-Bushra. The story follows two teenage girls who flee the United Kingdom after facing Islamophobic discrimination at school. Hoping to reach Syria, they plan to travel from the UK to Istanbul and beyond, but when their fixer doesn’t meet them as arranged, they get stranded in Istanbul and must find a way to the Syrian border while staying one step ahead of danger.
The film stars Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar, with Yusra Warsama, Cemre Ebuzziya, Aziz Capkurt and others in supporting roles. It is produced by Nicky Bentham for Neon Films and Marica Stocchi for Rosamont, with Catryn Ramasut and Alice Lusher as co-producers. Brides is a UK-Italian co-production backed by the BFI, Ffilm Cymru Wales, Creative Wales, Great Point Media, the Italian Ministry of Culture Minority Co-production Fund, Friuli Venezia Giulia Audiovisual, and Rai Cinema. Bankside Films handles international sales. Development included the BFI’s support, and the project won the Breaking Through the Lens Action Grant in 2023. Filming took place in Wales, Turkey and Italy; the bus station scene was shot at the real bus station in Turkey used by Shamima Begum and her friends.
Brides premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and later screened at the Munich Film Festival, where it won the Fritz Gerlich Trophy for its contribution to human rights and anti-racism through cinema. It also appeared at the Open Air Premiere Programme in the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival (winning the TeenArena Jury Award for Best Feature) and was selected for the Edinburgh International Film Festival. It is also in consideration for the Gandhi Medal at the 56th International Film Festival of India in November 2025.
In the United Kingdom, Brides was released on September 26, 2025, by Vue Lumière, with a preview on September 23 and a Q&A screening at BFI Southbank on September 25.
Critical response has been positive, with 83% of 29 critics giving it a favorable rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In October 2025, Hassan and Ingar were nominated for the British Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Performance, and for Best Joint Lead at the British Independent Film Awards 2025.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:14 (CET).