The Queen of My Dreams

This screening took place on Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 6:00 pmYukon Theatre

Fawzia Mirza’s stylish feature debut mashes up the textures of Indian cinema and a Canadian coming-of-age picture, tracing key moments in the lives of a mother and daughter born three decades apart.

In 1999, the sudden death of her father Hassan (Hamza Haq) sends queer Muslim grad student Azra (Amrit Kaur) flying back to her ancestral home in Pakistan, where her stern mother Mariam (Nimra Bucha) demands she play the role of the perfect grieving daughter. But through flashbacks to Mariam's own life in Karachi 30 years before, we see the connections uniting mother and daughter, starting with their shared love of the Bollywood star Sharmila Tagore.

Fawzia Mirza's bright, energetic first feature, which grew out of their 2012 short film of the same name, explores the chasm between individual desires and cultural expectations, fluidly slipping between the textures of Indian cinema and the concerns of a Canadian coming-of-age picture.

- Norm Wilner, Canada’s Top Ten Films for 2023 (TIFF)

In English and Urdu with English subtitles.

Content advisory: Mature themes

Recommended ages 14+

Genre: Drama-comedy