Kashmiri actor-turned-director Aamir Bashir returns Naidong
, an intense art drama on Sunday Busan International World premiere in competition at the Film Festival .
In the film’s first English trailer, shared exclusively with The Hollywood Reporter on the eve of its premiere, actress Zoya Hussain , playing the domestic helper Nargis, shows her inner grief in the harsh but majestic winter landscape of Kashmir (see trailer below).
Kashmir-born Bashir started his film career as an actor – his first Indian original series on Netflix Sacred Games — Before making his directorial debut with Autumn in 2010, the show became a holiday favorite, Shows in Toronto, Rotterdam and Fribourg. It later won Best Urdu Feature Film at India’s 60 National Film Awards. The Winter Within star Hussain is from India, best known for her breakthrough performance in Anurag Kashyap’s critically acclaimed boxing drama The Brawler.
The Winter Within Follow Nargis on his journey to find his arrested husband, Manzoor Ahmad Bhat) after participating in an armed rebellion. Unsure if her partner is dead or alive, Nargis faces the many difficulties of Kashmir’s reality – a place big and small that regularly erupts due to the long-running conflict between India and Pakistan and the ongoing border dispute with China Scale conflict. When her employer learned that Manzor was an activist, she was fired. She returns to her hometown and lends a helping hand to Yasin (Shabir Ahmed Long), who has a crush on her. When Manzoor suddenly returns home, the three characters must negotiate a subtle emotional shift in a political situation fraught with danger.
“The face of Nargis – full of many different emotions – and the landscape of the eternal winter of Kashmir are the story and themes of this film,” Busan International Film Festival said in its selection notes.
Bashir co-authored The Winter Within with Shanker Raman as DP. The film is an Indian/French/Qatar co-production by Claire Lajoumard of French Acrobates Films. Bangkok-based sales agent Diversion is handling global sales.
The Winter Within will premiere on Sunday, October 9th at the Busan New Trends Main Competition.
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