EXCLUSIVE: United Talent Agency has signed Zarrar Kahn, director of Pakistan’s Oscar entry In Flames, for representation in all areas.
In Flames premiered at this year’s Cannes film festival in Directors Fortnight and was recently named as Pakistan’s submission for the Best International Feature category of the Oscars. The film has also played at festivals including Toronto, Busan, Sitges, Pingyao, Helsinki, and SXSW Sydney.
The film, which is Kahn’s feature directorial debut, revolves around a mother and daughter whose precarious existence is ripped apart following the death of the family patriarch.
Produced by Anam Abbas and executive produced by Shant Joshi, Todd Brown and Maxime Cottray, the film recently won the Kevin Tierney Indiescreen Award for Emerging Producer at Toronto and Best Feature at the International South Asian Film Festival Canada.
Prior to In Flames, Kahn’s international breakout short film Dia, about a girl who pursues an online relationship while her conversative mother is suggesting an arranged marriage, won the Shorts Weeks audience award at Locarno film festival in 2020.
Additional short films include Stray Dogs Come Out At Night, which played at Clermont-Ferrand and BFI London Film Festival; Bhai, which played in Toronto and was nominated for IMDbPro Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Film; and 1978, which competed at both Locarno and Palm Springs film festivals.
Kahn also owns Karachi and Toronto-based production company, Citylights Media, with Anam Abbas, producer of In Flames, as Director of Production and Mohammad Ali Hashmi, casting director of In Flames, as Director of Development.
In Flames is presented by Citylights Media in association with Other Memory Media and XYZ Films, with the participation of Fae Pictures, Telefilm Canada and Canada Council for the Arts.
Kahn will continue to be managed by XYZ Films.
