In Flames movie storyline. In present-day Karachi, a medical student struggles to keep her family together while being stalked by forces she can’t entirely understand.
In Karachi, medical student Mariam (Ramesha Nawal) is struggling. She’s still dealing with the fresh loss of her grandfather and doing her best to support her grieving mother (Bakhtawar Mazhar) and brother (Jibraan Khan) while preparing for her upcoming exams. An estranged uncle (Adnan Shah Tipu) re-enters their lives and declares himself their new patriarch, making noises about handling their finances out of the kindness of his heart. Mariam’s mother is grateful for the help; Mariam can see disaster looming.
Asad (Omar Javaid), a charming fellow student freshly back from Canada, offers the possibility of romance and security, but even that is fraught with its own specific dangers. And after a motorcycle accident, Mariam finds herself even more alone and vulnerable. Something seems to be stalking her through the streets, something that never quite comes into focus but whose presence she can feel at every turn.
In Flames is a gripping drama about trauma, internalized abuse, and the misogyny woven into the fabric of any fundamentalist culture, with a streak of Guillermo del Toro’s empathetic ghost stories, in which spirits return with agendas the living cannot fully comprehend. In his feature directorial debut, Zarrar Kahn tells a story of women — not just Mariam, but her mother as well — forced to navigate the random violence of their oppressive, patriarchal society.
In Flames is a 2023 Pakistani-Canadian supernatural drama film written, directed and co-edited by Zarrar Kahn in his feature directorial debut. The film stars Ramesha Nawal, Bakhtawar Mazhar, Adnan Shah Tipu, Mohammad Ali Hashmi and Omar Javaid.
Set in contemporary Karachi, the film centres on Mariam (Nawal), a young woman who becomes haunted by visions of the past, after the death of the family’s patriarch leaves her and her mother, Fariha (Mazhar) in a vulnerable social position in Pakistan’s highly patriarchal society.
In Flames had its world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2023 in the Directors’ Fortnight section, where it competed for the Camera d’Or.
This marked the return of Pakistan to Director’s Fortnight after more than four decades. The film received major critical acclaim at Cannes, followed by a North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and winning Best Picture at the Red Sea International Film Festival
It premiered in Pakistan on ctober 20, 2023 and received generally positive from critics. film was selected as the Pakistani entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards
In Flames (2024)
Directed by: Zarrar Kahn
Starring: Ramesha Nawal, Omar Javaid, Bakhtawar Mazhar, Mohammad Ali Hashmi, Adnan Shah, Jibran Khan, Vajdaan Shah
Screenplay by: Zarrar Kahn
Cinematography by: Aigul Nurbulatova
Film Editing by: Craig Scorgie
Music by: Kalaisan Kalaichelvan
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Game Theory Films
Release Date: April 12, 2024
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