#TIFF23: “QUEEN OF MY DREAMS” TO BE RELEASED IN CANADA BY CINEPLEX PICTURES

Canadian distributor Cineplex Pictures, has announced a partnership with Shut up & Colour Pictures to distribute The Queen of My Dreams – the debut film by Canadian writer and director Fawzia Mirza. The announcement was made today by Cineplex Pictures and marks the company’s first deal out of the festival.

The Queen of My Dreams stars Amrit Kaur (The Sex Lives of College Girls), Nimra Bucha (Ms. Marvel), and Hamza Haq (Transplant), and was produced by Jason Levangie, Andria Wilson Mirza and Marc Tetreault.

The film is a stylish drama that follows Azra (Kaur), who is worlds apart from her conservative Muslim mother Mariam (Bucha). When her father Hassan (Haq) suddenly dies on a trip home to Pakistan, Azra finds herself on a Bollywood-inspired journey through memories, both real and imagined; from her mother’s youth in Karachi to her own coming- of-age in rural Canada. The film focuses on the complicated and special relationship between a mother and daughter, and lead actress Amrit Kaur plays two different characters in the film – a classic Bollywood tradition that Mirza paid homage to.

“Fawzia Mirza is an incredibly talented and exciting filmmaker and a wonderful representation of the future of Canadian film,” said Brad LaDouceur, Vice President & General Manager, Cineplex Pictures. “The Queen of My Dreams is the type of storytelling that Cineplex Pictures is actively looking for and we can’t wait to bring it to audiences across the country.”

“We’re overjoyed to be working with Cineplex Pictures to bring Fawzia’s debut feature to theatres across Canada,” said producer Jason Levangie. “Their willingness to make this theatrically minded deal, and collaborate with us to market the release widely, makes them an ideal partner for The Queen of My Dreams.”

The deal was negotiated by Brad LaDouceur and Tim Smy of Cineplex Pictures and Jason Levangie and Marc Tetreault of Shut Up & Colour Pictures, on behalf of the film.

The Queen of My Dreams will be released theatrically in Canada via Cineplex Pictures in early 2024. LevelK launched international sales for the film out of TIFF, and the film will next be in competition at the BFI London Film Festival in October.

The project is a CRAVE Original in Canada with 2nd window broadcast rights pre-sold to CBC Films. The film was made in partnership with the Canada Media Fund, Telefilm Canada, and Spark Features in the US.