In Flames filmmakers look to build buzz for theatrical release

TIFF '23: The North American premiere in Toronto will kick off a global festival run for Zarrar Kahn's debut feature.

The North American premiere of Canadian-Pakistani writer-director Zarrar Kahn’s debut feature In Flames at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is the first stop on a “world tour” for the film, says producer Anam Abbas.

The drama, which made its world bow in the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight section earlier this year, debuts Thursday (Sept. 14) in TIFF’s Centrepiece programme. The next stop is South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival followed by the Sitges Film Festival in Spain, then landing at the inaugural SXSW Sydney in Australia.

There are back-to-back Canadian festivals also lined up as In Flames gears for a theatrical release in Canada. They include the Atlantic International Film Festival, the Calgary International Film Festival, the Vancouver International Film Festival and the Windsor International Film Festival.

“Building a Canadian audience with these festivals is really important to us because we’re hoping for a theatrical release this fall or early next year,” Abbas tells Playback Daily.

In Flames is produced by Abbas via Other Memory Media (Canada/Pakistan) and CityLights Media (Canada), while Shant Joshi of L.A., New York and Toronto-basedFae Pictures is the executive producer alongside L.A.-based sales and production company XYZ Films’ Todd Brown and Maxime Cottray.

The film centres on a young medical student (Ramesha Nawal) and her mother (Bakhtawar Mazhar), who must conquer horrors, both real and phantasmal, after the death of a family patriarch. When Kahn had an initial draft of the script in 2018, “it was more of a social issue film about the patriarchy in Pakistan,” he says, noting, “I think, as I developed it, as I got feedback, as I grew as a filmmaker, I really started to see what I enjoy about cinema and the kind of stories I like telling and realize that I’m really attracted by genre and elements of genre.”

The Urdu-language copro received funding from Telefilm Canada’s Talent to Watch program in 2020 and the Canada Council for the Arts in 2021. Additional funding came from the CFC-Netflix Calling Card Accelerator Fund, as well as the CFC/Slaight Canadian Music Fund in 2022.

Toronto-based Game Theory Films acquired the film for Canada in June and the company’s co-president Hilary Hart says the title “definitely speaks to what we’re looking for.”

“Zarrar and Anam are extremely talented new voices in Canadian cinema, expanding the boundaries of what we define as a Canadian film, and using genre to tell a powerful story about patriarchal oppression. For them to have been able to create a film that is so assured and impactful on a Talent to Watch budget is remarkable,” adds Hart.

The theatrical release strategy for the film will involve “working with our regular exhibition partners, but paying special attention to the South Asian community, both in our release strategy and in our marketing, making sure we’re doing the grass roots outreach to get the film on their radar,” says Hart, noting that Game Theory had been tracking the project via Fae Pictures, and “were thrilled to see the film accepted to Cannes.”

In Flames was the first Talent to Watch film to make it to Cannes, and was one of the first films included in XYZ’s New Visions international sales slate after the company initially came on board as the project’s U.S. distributor in 2021.

In Flames, in particular, and Zarrar in general are an absolute bullseye for what we’re doing with the New Visions initiative. The entire point of what we’re doing there is to highlight the absolute best rising talents around the world. In Flames was the first title to hit the market and we couldn’t have asked for a better flag bearer than a Cannes selected film, straddling the line between arthouse and genre, delivering what both audiences want,” says Brown, head of international acquisitions for XYZ Films.

The response at Cannes was “absolutely fantastic” and “got us off on a really good foot” with buyers, adds Brown, noting that XYZ hopes to leverage that push at TIFF. Ahead of festival, the film was sold in France (The Joker), the U.K. (Blue Finch), Scandinavia (NonStop), the Middle East (Falcon), Singapore (Shaw) and Canada (Game Theory Films).

The project had come on XYZ’s radar through Brown’s connection to the Canadian Film Centre (CFC).

Brown says he often gets invited by the CFC to speak to directing and producing programs. It was during one of these sessions where he was asked for feedback on a feature script by a director in a short film program. That director was Kahn, and the script was for In Flames.

“It was instantly obvious to me what a huge talent Zarrar is,” says Brown.

In Flames was shot over 33 days in Karachi in 2022, where the filmmakers had to navigate several challenges, including getting the film’s director of photography Aigul Nurbulatova – who hails from Kazakhstan – to Pakistan, while there was unrest in Kazakhstan and the internet and phone lines were shut. They were able to get in touch through an Instagram connection of Kahn’s, and Nurbulatova was transported out of the country to Turkey, from Turkey to Dubai and then Dubai to Pakistan.

Other obstacles included scheduling changes because of COVID, finding local crews in the window when the weather is “bearable” and lots of production is taking place, and “also some of the things that are not set up in Pakistan for international productions, like production insurance,” says Abbas, noting that “we got there eventually.”

Photo courtesy of CityLights Media