Screenshot Asia: In Flames

Mariam is a medical student living with her mother Faraha and younger brother in a tiny Karachi flat owned by her grandfather. When he dies, leaving a mountain of debt, an uncle steps in offering to cover the debts, after which he says they have signed over their apartment and that he is evicting them. The legal system, heavily weighted against women, offers them no protection. Faraha, grieving and isolated, has little energy to fight. Mariam takes refuge in a romance with a kindly fellow student, but her mental health is failing; she has nightmares that are the stuff of horror movies. Mother and daughter must join forces to overcome both real and phantasmal forces that threaten to engulf them.

Directed by Zarrar Kahn

2023 | Canada, Pakistan | Urdu language with English subtitles | DCP