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Zarrar Khan's storytelling is hauntingly beautiful, capturing the suffocating nature of patriarchal customs. The director blends genres skillfully to strengthen mother-daughter bond over generational trauma. In Flames disrupts the psyche with violent interactions, reflecting the challenging state of women's safety.

In Flames, Pakistan’s official entry for best international film at the 2024 Academy Awards, captures the complexity of a Pakistani society when moral ambiguity intersects with patriarchal customs. Written and directed by Zarrar Khan, this psychological thriller blends genres to effectively capture mental health when generational trauma is at the forefront and all agency seems lost. A roaring achievement for the first-time feature director, In Flames is an intensely vivid tale of survival. Khan’s humanistic approach towards understanding marginalized women is hauntingly beautiful.

8/10

After the death of the family patriarch, a mother and daughter's precarious existence is ripped apart by figures from their past. They must find strength...

Editor’s Note: This review originally published during the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Game Theory Films will release “In Flames” on April 12, 2024.

“No one gives something for nothing.”

All of the evils that emerge over the course of “In Flames” — and there are quite a few of them — stem from that prescient warning that Mariam (Ramesha Nawal) relays to her mother. The 25-year-old medical student is alarmed by the resurfacing of her sleazy Uncle Nasir (Adnan Shah), who has conveniently offered to pay all of their family’s debts after a lifetime of neglecting her and her brother. The family’s financial struggles cause her concerns to fall on deaf ears, but a lot of agony could have been avoided if her mother had just learned the film’s key lesson: some gift horses should be looked in the mouth.

Zarrar Kahn’s genre-bending horror movie — which has the well-deserved honor...

Iram Parveen Bilal’s Josh was screened at the London Indian Film Festival 2013. The winner of the 2012 Women in Film Finishing Fund and the official selection for numerous film festivals all over the world, Josh is a film with a powerful message: people will not be oppressed if they choose not to be oppressed. Speaking to Iram Parveen Bilal after the screening, we asked her: If there is one thing that you want your audience to take away from the film, what would that be? She replied: ‘That one person is enough to start a change’. This is precisely what Josh is about. Inspired by true events, Josh is Fatima’s journey in finding the truth on about what happened to her nanny. Fatima represents a strong, brave and determined woman who not only wants to know the truth, but wants to bring the truth out in the open, for everyone else.

Kajraare Cast: Himesh Reshammiya,Mona Laizza,Amrita Singh,Natasha Sinha,Gaurav Chanana,Javed Sheikh (Pakistan),Gulshan Grover,Adnan Shah; Director: Pooja Bhatt; Music: Himesh Reshammiya.

Preview:

Himesh plays the role of a lawyer who falls in love with a girl (Monalaizza) in Morocco. But one day, she disappears under mysterious circumstances. He sets out to find her and finally traces her to Heera Mandi, a red light area in Pakistan. He finds out that her past lies in the murky streets of Lahore’s red light area. Kajraare tells the love.