Original Title
The Queen of My Dreams
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Production Year
2023
Country of Origin
Canada / Pakistan
Language Spoken
English, Urdu
Length
96 mins
Festival
TIFF Discovery
(World Premiere)
BFI London FF Sutherland Comp
(Int. Premiere)
Director
Fawzia Mirza
Scriptwriter
Fawzia Mirza
Cast
Amrit Kaur
Nimra Bucha
Hamza Haq
Ayana Manji
Production Company
Baby Daal Productions
Shut Up & Colour Pictures
Producers
Jason Levangie
Marc Tetreault
Executive Producers Damon D’Oliveira
Kamil Chima
Carol Noronha
Anam Abbas
Robina Riccitiello
Josh Peters
Alexander Stegmaier
Azra, a Pakistani woman living in Toronto, is worlds apart from her conservative Muslim mother. When her father suddenly dies on a trip home to Pakistan, Azra finds herself on a Bollywood-inspired journey through memories, both real and imagined, from her mother’s youth in Karachi to her own coming- of-age in rural Canada.
Fawzia Mirza (she/they) is a queer, Muslim, South Asian writer/director born in Canada and living in Los Angeles. She is a White House Champion of Change, an alum of the Tribeca Film Institute and Ryan Murphy’s Half Initiative directing program, an Islamic Scholarship Fund Winner, and her recent feature script Heirloom was named to the 2022 Muslim List, published by The Black List. She co-wrote & starred in the feature film Signature Move, which world premiered at SXSW, and went on to win 15 awards (US Grand Jury Prize Outfest) and starred Indian film legend Shabana Azmi as her mother. She wrote on CBS’ The Red Line, executive produced by Greg Berlanti & Ava DuVernay; her episode marked the first queer, Muslim romance on network TV. She wrote/directed award-winning shorts that have screened all over the world, including Noor & Layla (BlackStar, Bentonville, Short of the Week, distributed by Frameline Voices, CBC & Argo) and Brown Elephant (commissioned by 20th Digital Studio with 2.3M views on Twitter). She directed the award-winning TikTok series Hidden Canyons and the rom-com The Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night (world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival) which was named to Canada’s Top 10 and one of Harper’s Bazaar’s “Best Christmas Movies of 2021.” Her latest short Auntie executive produced by Paul Feig (Aspen Shortsfest, Hamptons) was acquired by/is now streaming on The New Yorker. She executive produced the feature documentary Coming Around (world premiered Thessaloniki) and the upcoming documentary Gifted (also executive produced by Andria Wilson Mirza, Samantha Curley and Chase Joynt).
Shut Up & Color Pictures
Jason Levangie is an independent Creative Producer and co-owner of Shut Up & Colour Pictures. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production from NSCAD University. Levangie has produced 5 feature films at S&C, and works as the company’s creative director on client based work, as well as writing and overseeing the company’s IP development. Aside from passionately developing the S&C slate, Levangie works as a director, and a TV cinematographer.
Baby Daal Productions
Andria Wilson Mirza is the Director of ReFrame, Hollywood’s gender equity coalition founded by Sundance Institute and Women In Film (WIF). Previously, she was Executive Director of Inside Out, Canada’s largest LGBTQ film festival.. With her wife, writer/director Fawzia Mirza, Wilson Mirza runs Baby Daal Productions. Baby Daal’s feature slate also includes Sandra Itäinen’s queer Muslim documentary Coming Around and Drew Denny’s Gifted. Wilson Mirza also executive produced Lulu Wei’s feature documentary Supporting Our Selves for OUTtv, which was awarded the jury prize for Best Canadian Feature at IOFF23.
Shut Up & Color Pictures
Marc Tetreault is an independent producer and co-owner of Shut Up & Colour Pictures. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Allison University (’07) and is an alumnus of the Canadian Film Centre’s Producer’s Lab (’14). At S&C, Tetreault has been at the helm of 5 feature films in 7 years, and has additionally produced 2 other features films: Bruce MacDonald’s Weirdos, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2017, and in 2018, Justin Oakey’s debut feature A Fire in the Cold Season starring Michaela Kurimsky. Marc is also a sought after line producer, and an expert manager of film, television and commercial content. He just wrapped producing his 3rd season of CBC’s Moonshine for EOne.
Azra Malik & Young Mariam
Amrit Kaur is an artistic hyphenate: an actress, director, and writer best known for her role as Bela Malhotra on the HBO Max hit series, The Sex Lives of College Girls. Kaur grew up in a Sikh family in Markham, Ontario. Her parents emigrated from India to Canada before she was born. Kaur began acting as an extracurricular in high school, serving as the senior captain of her school’s improv team. She earned her BFA in theater from the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design at York University in Toronto.
Mariam Malik
Nimra Bucha is a British Pakistani actor who has performed in Theatre, Television and Film in both Pakistan and the UK. She is a household name in Pakistan starring in many popular television series, most recently the acclaimed series Churails. She can currently be seen in her Regular role as Najma in Ms Marvel for Disney+ which is receiving critical acclaim. She is also receiving rave reviews for her lead role in Focus Features Polite Society playing the formidable Raheela.
Hassan Malik
Hamza Haq stars in the medical drama Transplant. Prior to this, Haq played twins Amal and Gopal opposite William Shatner and Russell Peters in the mini-series Indian Detective. Additional television credits include This Life Quantico, Designated Survivor, The Bold Type, Being Human and Best Laid Plans. On the big screen he has appeared in My Salinger Year and more recently in the feature Viking. Additional credits include Bon Cop, Bad Cop 2 with Colm Feore, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan directed by Xavier Dolan and Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!
