IN FLAMES
Theatrical Publicity, April 2024
Pender PR was brought on to support Game Theory in launching Zarrar Kahn’s award-winning feature film debut IN FLAMES in Canada. Handling the Vancouver screening and PR, we were thrilled to secure some really important feature pieces in the Vancouver Sun, CBC, Spice Radio, Stir Vancouver, The Straight, the VIFF podcast and National Observer. We also facilitated a sponsorship and giveaway with The Georgia Straight, grassroots outreach to South Asian, Pakistani and arts groups in Vancouver and secured a moderator in actor and host Zara Durrani who led an important conversation following the Vancouver theatrical premiere.
IN FLAMES was Pakistan’s Official Entry for Best International Film at the Academy Awards, an Official Selection at TIFF, the Cannes Film Festival and was been nominated for 2024 Canadian Screen Awards, where Kahn took home The John Dunning Best First Feature Award; a special Canadian film award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the year's best feature film by a first-time film director.
This unforgettable thriller stars Ramesha Nawal, Omar Javaid (Hafiz), Bakhtawar Mazhar (The Queen of My Dreams), Adnan Shah Tipu (Dhai Chaal), Mohammad Ali Hashmi (Bhai) and Jibran Khan.
“From the first beat of the film to the last, Kahn creates a sonnet —
an ode to the women of his birth country.”
— Rachel Ho, The Asian Cut
“Thought-provoking and poignant, In Flames isn’t an easy conversation,
but it is a necessary one that rests its narrative on the
pervasive gaze of patriarchal oppression.”
— Tanis Hussain, Collider
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
I was born in Karachi. A city of thirty-odd million, where it is commonly known that a woman should not walk alone outside. Karachi is a microcosm of Pakistani society, filled to the brim with tender and violent desires. It is where I grew up, where I fell in love, and in the end, where I chose to leave.
With In Flames I mean to explore the consequences of living in the confines of a fiercely patriarchal society. To illuminate the psychological impact of gendered oppression and the horror of being young and in love in Pakistan. To know the legacy of familial violence, and the desire to break free from the ghosts of our past.
Inspired by my experiences, and those of my immediate circle, it is a reality where ordinary moments can draw terror, and phantasmal forces walk with us. In Flames means to draw you into the dusty beauty of Karachi, and witness the hard choices that must be made to survive another day.
Ultimately, it is about resilience – and my tribute to the millions who refuse to let circumstance define them.
— Writer + Director Zarrar Kahn
Synopsis
Mariam lives with her younger brother and their mother, Fariha, in a tiny apartment in Karachi. When Mariam’s maternal grandfather passes, his brother tries to manipulate them into signing over their apartment to him, a common occurrence in Pakistan, where women’s property rights
are fragile. Mariam’s mother, grieving and isolated, is easy to influence. Mariam, distraught by her mother’s foolishness, finds solace in a secret romance with a fellow student, Asad. When their relationship takes an unexpected turn, Mariam becomes consumed by nightmares. Meanwhile, her mother, caught between her coercive Uncle and a murky legal system, is oblivious to her daughter’s deteriorating mental state. Mariam’s nightmares begin to bleed into reality. Mother and daughter must come together if they hope to overcome the real and phantasmal forces that threaten to engulf them.