Riding two cinematic waves: Zarrar Kahn's In Flames brings new life to Pakistani and Canadian cinema
The film's director Khan on how the film was built out of his own dual identities
It's not often directors find themselves at the beginnings of a new wave movement, let alone two. But for Zarrar Kahn, this is simply his reality with one new wave indirectly feeding off the other.
In the last few years the Canadian film industry has seen something of a boom. Films like Riceboy Sleeps, Slash/Back and Fitting In have given voice to a new generation of filmmakers whose stories reflect Canadian stories previously reduced to side quests. Kahn's feature directorial debut, In Flames, stands among those films, while also contributing to an emerging new wave in Pakistan.
"[Pakistan] had a far-right government come into place and dismantle our national cinema industry," Kahn explains to CBC Arts. "What was once a booming film industry in the ['60s and] '70s that was based out of Lahore and created by old Bollywood families that moved to Pakistan after partition [was] entirely closed down in the late '70s/early '80s. We went from making 300 movies a year to making [just a handful].
He continues, "Now we're seeing this new renaissance of Pakistani cinema that's often driven by international financing models, that allows local stories to be told. The success of films like In Flames and Queen of My Dreams, another Pakistani Canadian movie, spurs the local industry forward, saying that there is an audience for films like this. There's a way to get these movies made."
Where Queen of My Dreams and Joyland offer audiences a glimpse into the queer and trans worlds within Pakistan and the wider diaspora, Kahn's film unravels a young woman's existence in the country.
Kahn was born and raised in Pakistan, immigrating to Canada with his family at 10 years of age. His family would move back to Pakistan five years later when Kahn became distinctly aware of the changes the females in his life had to adapt to that he did not.
"I remember being able to take a walk down the street and as a woman in Pakistan, you can't do that [unaccompanied]," says Kahn. "If you're driving down the street in Karachi, a big question people have is where are all the women in public spaces? [My] wanting to make this movie was tied to my own experiences of seeing the way an entire gender is treated differently and navigates life extremely differently."
In recent years movements and initiatives like the Aurat March (an annual political demonstration since 2018 that increases awareness of violence against women and advocates for women's rights) and Girls at Dhabas (a social media driven effort to have a conversation about women in public spaces like dhabas, traditional roadside tea stalls) have raised the visibility of the challenges and dangers Pakistani women encounter in their day to day lives. But the stark reality remains that the societal norms of Pakistan are dictated by a structure inherently unkind and unfair to women.
"The heart of [In Flames] was always going to be the relationship between mother and daughter," Kahn explains. "But also how the patriarchy has systems of oppression [that] rip apart marginalized groups and try and force them to not see the power in their solidarity."
In many ways, those two themes come together to build the world as lived by a woman in Pakistan. Following a young medical student Mariam, played by Ramesha Nawal in a stunning acting debut, In Flames navigates the common ups and downs of youth, complicated by the weight of Mariam's responsibility to her family in the wake of her grandfather's death.
Because of customary practices that deprive women of land rights, Mariam's mother Fariha (Bakhtawar Mazhar) is swayed to sign over the family's apartment to her father's brother. Being wiser to the world than Fariha, Mariam sees through her grand-uncle's offer and frustratingly pleads with her mother to see his ill-intentions.
Kahn impresses upon the audience the generational burden Mariam bears through her family's legal issues and her burgeoning romance with a fellow student. In each frame, the filmmaker distills a tense claustrophobia that acknowledges the scarcity of options someone like Mariam, and those who came before her, have before them in both instances.
To build this experience, Kahn sought out his female friends and family members, as well as his cast and crew, who shared with him "the circumstances and the incidents that they have been through that they will often just sweep under the rug [because] it's just a part of living there."
He adds, "A lot of the really terrifying things that happened in this film are real life and often things that I just pushed a little bit further, playing into genre elements to really make it feel as visceral as it does when you experience it in the real world."
One such incident parlayed itself into a particularly disturbing scene where Mariam stands on the balcony of her family's apartment and sees a man across the street staring at her while unabashedly pleasuring himself. A friend of Kahn's relayed this to him, a story which left an indelible impression on him and the film.
"I was shaken," Kahn recalls. "Your own space is no longer safe. You are being threatened and made to feel unsafe in your home. It encouraged me to go further and explore the horror of what that feels like. That kind of overarching, oppressive environment where you constantly feel constricted and there is no safety."
The fact that In Flames and Joyland were both submitted to the Academy by Pakistan as their submission for Best International Feature signals a promising shift. A country once under the thumb of a militant regime seems ready to at least recognize their problems, a notion helped by people like Kahn who use artistic expressions to call out injustices and inequalities.
In Canada, In Flames's contribution to the redefinition of what constitutes a Canadian film is significant. Acknowledgement that the stories that matter to Canada and Canadians includes not only those homegrown but those of our ancestral motherlands, expands our understanding of our culture and the opportunities afforded to all of us who call Canada home.
