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Comedic drama The Queen of My Dreams will have its world premiere at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 8. The film is a Canada-Pakistan co-production.

The film centres around Azra, a Pakistani woman living in Toronto who is poles apart from her conservative mother, Mariam. When her father 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.

Written and directed by Fawzia Mirza, the film stars Amrit Kaur of The Sex Lives of College Girls, Nimra Bucha and Hamza Haq of Transplant. Gul-e-Rana, Ali Kazmi, Meher Jaffri, Bakhtawar Mazhar and Adnan Jaffar are among other stars in the film. The Queen of My Dreams is Mirza’s first feature film.

“I always dreamt of making a feature film in Pakistan, and this entire experience was a dream come true,” said director Mirza.

The film was a unique cross-border collaboration with Pakistan-based producers Kamil Chima (Laal Kabootar, Eid Mubarak) and Carol Noronha (In Flames, 1978, Moor) working in partnership with Canadian producers Jason Levangie, Marc Tetreault, and Andria Wilson Mirza for a 30-day spell in Karachi last year, which followed a 10-day spell in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Canadian cinematographer Matt Irwin and production designer Michael Pierson collaborated with Karachi talent including Cyrus Kyranjia and Imran Naeem (art), Fizza Ejaz and Faiz Rohani (costume), and Minahil Chima and Nanson Gill (makeup) to bring the film’s multiple time periods to life.

The Pakistan team also included 1st AD Farjad Akhtar and unit production manager Ameer Hamza, who also worked with Noronha on In Flames, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. In Flames producer Anam Abbas is also an executive producer on The Queen of My Dreams.