At the closing ceremony of the 3rd edition of the Red Sea Film Festival Thursday, which took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in front of an audience that included Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage, Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry, Jason Statham, and Adrien Brody, the Golden Yusr for best film and a $100,000 cash prize went to Pakistani-Canadian horror film “In Flames,” directed by Zarrar Kahn.
The film has garnered accolades at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, and the Busan International Film Festival. In Flames is also Pakistan’s official submission for the Academy Awards. The psychological thriller is being nominated for the International Feature Oscar.
Premiering at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight earlier this year, the film’s story unfolds in Karachi. Following the demise of their family’s head, a mother and her daughter’s fragile life gets disrupted by entities from their history, both tangible and spectral. Their bond becomes their only hope against the dark forces that loom over them.
In Flames stars Ramesha Nawal, Bakhtawar Mazhar, Mohammad Ali Hashmi, Adnan Shah Tipu, and Omar Javaid. It was written and directed by Kahn and produced by Anam Abbas. The executive producer is Shant Joshi.
