Series Mania Festival
The first poster of the family drama unveiled at the ongoing Series Mania Festival,
Where the show is set to have its Global Premiere
Barzakh Team walks the Red Carpet at Festival’s Opening Ceremony
Prior to its World Premiere at the Series Mania Festival, the creators of Zindagi original show, Barzakh, starring Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed, have unveiled the show poster in the French city of Lille.
Barzakh is helmed by critically acclaimed director, Asim Abbasi, who also directed Zindagi’s first original, Churails, and feature film, Cake. Attending the event will be writer-director, Asim Abbasi; actor, Sanam Saeed; and producer, Shailja Kejriwal. Ahead of the premiere, the talent walked the Red Carpet at the festival’s Opening Ceremony on Friday 17th March at Le Nouveau Siecle, Lille.
Barzakh has the distinct honour of being the only series selected from South Asia at Series Mania. The series will debut on Saturday 18th March, UGC Ciné Cité, Lille in the showcase’s International Panorama, a 12-title competitive section, where it will be eligible for the Best Series, Director, Actress, Actor, Student Jury and Audience awards.
A family drama centred around an elderly man’s quest for love, Barzakh explores intergenerational trauma between fathers and sons. The narrative is framed within a fantastical world of supernatural beings and otherworldly events that reveal the chasms between life, death and rebirth.
Actor, Fawad Khan, portrays the role of a single parent, who is charming but at the same time filled with a lot of guilt for something that he has lost. Talking about the series, he says, “Coinciding with our Series Mania premiere, our poster that we now reveal to the world offers an early glimpse into what can be expected from the series – abstract beauty and ambiguity that reflects the complexities in navigating human relationships in a post modern world.”
Held annually at Lille, the Series Mania festival, since its inception in 2010, has been instrumental in recognising and curating the best series from across the world. The festival brings together leading screenwriters, directors and artists together under one roof.
Sanam Saeed, who plays the central female character, adds,“I’m so proud that we’re launching the poster of Barzakh against the backdrop of Series Mania, ahead of our World Premiere. It is a beautiful piece of storytelling and our premiere at Series Mania demonstrates that this is content befitting of an international audience, transcending geographical, cultural and lingual barriers. We’re immensely excited about our premiere and gauging the first reactions to Barzakh.”
Asim Abbasi shot the series in Karachi and the picturesque Hunza Valley in Pakistan. Barzakh blends magical realism and supernatural fantasy within a family reunion setting and deals with themes of love, loss and reconciliation.
Talking about Barzakh and the poster, Asim adds, “Love and memory are both central thematic components of Barzakh. We wanted a visual that represented love in its eternal manifestation but, which like memory, also had a fleeting, ephemeral quality about – like time slipping by and evaporating around us, leaving behind a distant but vivid memory of the moment it all began.”
Shailja Kejriwal, Producer, Barzakh and Chief Creative Office, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, Special Projects adds, “Barzakh is the first ever Indo-Pak cross border series to premiere globally and presenting it to the world together as a team is truly an emotional moment. Amidst the excitement, we are extremely proud to be presenting the series poster – as enigmatic and as beautiful as the series we have collectively created. This has been a genuine labour of love that has transcended borders, signified by the fact that we will be premiering to a wholly international audience that has gathered from across the globe. Barzakh has come to fruition through unified passion, vision and bravery from all involved and I would like to extend my wholehearted gratitude to each artist and crew member, as we could not have mounted this ambitious project alone. We hope audiences and fans of original storytelling from around the world will share in our passion and love for this series.”
Waqas Hassan, Producer, Barzakh, says, “From the mountains of Hunza to Lille, it’s been a crazy journey. This one is for the fathers.”
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