Actor and director Sarmad Khoosat’s ‘Zindagi Tamasha’ is all set to premiere at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in South Korea before being released in Pakistan.
The movie has already been nominated for an award prior to its screening.
The BIFF launched this award two years ago to commemorate actor Kim Ji-Seok, the founding member and deputy director of the festival. With the goal to discover and encourage Asian films, the Kim Jiseok Award is awarded to two out of ‘approximately ten world premieres’ selected from the Asian Cinema section. The film will be screened from October 6 to October 8.
Sarmad Khoosat unveiled the trailer of ‘Zindagi Tamasha’ on Monday. The trailer paints an obscure and grim picture that holds up a spine chilling mirror to our society.
The trailer narrates the story of a naat khwan named Rahat Khawaja (played by Arif Hassan) and his family who find themselves ostracised when a certain video of Khawaja becomes public.
After the video goes viral, even his own daughter, Sadaf (played by Eman Suleman) is ashamed of him.
Directed and co-produced by Khoosat and his sister Kanwal Khoosat and written by Nirmal Bano, Zindagi Tamasha is a bilingual film, mostly shot in Punjabi.
Along with Hassan and Suleman, the cast includes Ali Qureshi, Samiya Mumtaz, and Imran Khoosat.
Sarmad Khoosat unveiled the trailer of ‘Zindagi Tamasha’ on Monday. The trailer paints an obscure and grim picture that holds up a spine-chilling mirror to our society
‘Zindagi Tamasha’ has been cleared by the censor board and will be released in Pakistan in January 2020. The background score and music of the movie is by an Islamabad-based band, Saakin.
The film will be making its debut next month at the BIFF in South Korea.
The BIFF held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia.
The first festival, held from 13 to 21 September 1996, was also the first international film festival in Korea. The focus of the BIFF is introducing new films and first-time directors, especially those from Asian countries. Another notable feature is the appeal of the festival to young people, both in terms of the large youthful audience it attracts and through its efforts to develop and promote young talent. In 1999, the Pusan Promotion Plan was established to connect new directors to funding sources. The 16th BIFF in 2011 saw the festival move to a new permanent home, the Busan Cinema Centre in Centum City. The Busan Cinema Centre is an about USD 150 million structure designed by Austria-based architecture collective Coop Himmelblau. The about 30,000 m² Cinema Centre includes a 4,000-seat outdoor theatre; four indoor screens under an LED-covered roof; media centre; archive space; and conference rooms; allowing the festival to include industry forums and educational activities.
Khoosat is also a producer and screenwriter best known for directing the television dramas ‘Humsafar’ and ‘Shehr-e-Zaat’.