The Queen of my Dreams directed by Fawzia Mirza will open the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival which will take place from November 8 – 9, 2023 in Toronto, Canada.

The Queen of my Dreams by Fawzia Mirza – Canada | 2023 – 97 minutes
When Azra, a queer Muslim grad student, hears of her father’s sudden death, she flies back to her ancestral home in Karachi, Pakistan for the funeral, where she is received by her conservative mother, Mariam, perpetually disappointed by Azra’s choices. As a self-assured Azra wrestles with Karachi’s customs and norms, we time travel back to Mariam’s own life in the city 30 years ago, a remarkably different era in Pakistan’s political and cultural history.

Through Azra and Mariam’s shared love for the inimitable Bollywood star, Sharmila Tagore, director Fawzia Mirza tells a story that illuminates layers of a deep and complex bond between generations of women who live in starkly different times yet negotiate their freedoms and desires in strikingly similar ways. With outstanding performances by an all-star cast spanning continents, Mirza invites us all to celebrate unlikely bonds and the unifying power of cinema in this energetic, polychromatic, and unforgettable feature debut. – Mariam Zaidi (ReelAsian 2023)

Screening Date:
November 8, 2023 | Wednesday | Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema | 7:30 pm

About the director:
Fawzia Mirza is a Canadian writer and director with multiple film and television credits including the feature Signature Move (2017), which they co-wrote, produced, and starred in. They directed the short films The Queen of My Dreams (2012), I Know Her (2019), Saya (2019), Noor & Layla (2021), The Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night (21), and Auntie (2022). The Queen of My Dreams (2023) is their directorial feature debut.

For more information, please visit: https://www.reelasian.com/