Canadian-Pakistani film The Queen of My Dreams is all set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 8, according to an official statement.
In the comedy-drama film, Ezra, a Pakistani woman living in Toronto, is unable to connect with her conservative mother.
However, Ezra goes on a Bollywood-inspired journey through real and imagined memories when her father suddenly dies while on a trip to Pakistan. The memoir focuses on her mother’s youth in Karachi and her coming of age in rural Canada.
Directed by Fauzia Mirza, the cast includes Amrit Kaur, Nimra Bucha, Hamza Haq, Gul Rana, Ali A Kazmi, Meher Jafri, Bakhtawar Mazhar, Adnan Jaffer, and others.
Mirza was quoted as saying in a press release, “I had always dreamed of making a feature film in Pakistan, and this whole experience was a dream come true.
The film is also a “unique cross-border collaboration” as Pakistan-based producers Kamil Cheema and Carol Noronha teamed up with Canadian producers Jason Leungy, Marc Tetriault, and Andrea Wilson Mirza for a 30-day spell in Karachi last year. . Through a 10-day spell in Nova Scotia, Canada.
While Canadian cinematographer Matt Irwin and production designer Michael Pearson teamed up with Karachi-based Cyrus Karanjia and Imran Naeem, Faiza Ejaz and Faiz Rouhani, and Manahil Cheema and Nanson Gill to bring the film’s many moments to life.
“The Pakistani team also included First AD Farjad Akhtar and Unit Production Manager Ameer Hamza, who also worked with Inflames on Noronha, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Inflames producer Anum Abbas is also the executive producer of The Queen of My Dreams.
