“Me, My Mom & Sharmila,” the feature directorial debut of queer Muslim writer-director Fawzia Mirza, has set its cast.
The film will feature Amrit Kaur, the breakout star of Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble’s HBO Max series “The Sex Lives of College Girls”; Hamza Haq, who won best actor in 2021 and 2022 at the Canadian Screen Awards for CTV medical drama “Transplant”; and Nimra Bucha (“Ms. Marvel,” “Churails”).
Set in 1999, the film follows Azra (Kaur) over 48 hours as she travels from her home in Canada to her parents’ homeland of Pakistan to bury her father (Haq). Azra struggles to connect with her conservative mother Mariam (Bucha), but her return to Pakistan launches her into memories both real and imagined that reveal their unexpected similarities.
Adapted from Mirza’s stage play of the same name, “Me, My Mom & Sharmila” is produced by Jason Levangie and Marc Tetreault for Shut Up & Colour Pictures (“Night Blooms”), Andria Wilson Mirza for Baby Daal Productions (“Noor & Layla”) and executive produced by Damon D’Oliveira, with the support of Telefilm Canada and the Canada Media Fund in partnership with Crave and CBC Films. Development of the project was supported by SFFILM, Toronto International Film Festival’s Writers Studio and Filmmaker Lab, The Gotham, Ontario Creates’ International Financing Forum, Inside Out’s Financing Forum and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Production will commence in Nova Scotia, Canada and Pakistan in late 2022.
Haq will appear in the upcoming independent films “Delia’s Gone,” with Marisa Tomei and Stephan James, romantic comedy “With Love and a Major Organ,” based on Julia Lederer’s bestselling novel and French-Canadian comedy “Viking,” which will premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.
Bucha will appear in a leading role in Focus Features’ “Polite Society,” a British action comedy from writer-director Nida Manzoor (“We are Lady Parts”).
Mirza was named a White House Champion of Change in Asian American Art and Storytelling in 2016. Mirza’s short film “The Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night” world premiered at TIFF 2021. “Signature Move,” the feature she co-wrote, produced and co-starred with Indian thespian Shabana Azmi, world premiered at SXSW in 2017.
Mirza co-founded production company Baby Daal Productions with her wife, producer Andria Wilson Mirza. They served as advisors on Sundance 2021 documentary “Sirens” and are currently executive producing queer Muslim documentary “Coming Around.”
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