Asim Abbasi's 'Barzakh' premieres at Series Mania Festival 2023

A new series, jointly produced by Indian and Pakistani producers, was unveiled at the renowned Series Mania Festival 2023 in France yesterday.

It features top Pakistani actors including Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed.

The festival, which has been celebrating international TV series since 2010, provided the perfect platform for the world premiere of this eagerly anticipated show called "Barzakh".

The show has been created for Zindagi, a subcontinent-focused programming block on the OTT platform ZEE5, and is the brainchild of Pakistani producer Waqas Hassan and his Indian counterpart, Shailja Kejriwal. The critically acclaimed director Asim Abbasi, who previously directed Zindagi's first Pakistani original "Churails" and the feature film "Cake", has written and directed the series.

The highly anticipated series, "Barzakh", had its world premiere at the Series Mania Festival 2023 in France under the International Panorama section. The first two episodes of the show were screened on Saturday evening at the UGC Cine-City in Lille, France, with Sanam Saeed, Asim Abbasi, and Shailja Kejriwal in attendance. The event was followed by a question-and-answer session that allowed the audience to engage with the creators.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Asim Abbasi (@a_abbasi)

Out of all the works of art submitted from South Asia this year, "Barzakh" was the only one to be selected for screening at the prestigious festival. The show is now competing with 12 other titles for the best series, director, actress, actor, student jury, and audience awards.

According to the official website of the Series Mania Festival, "Barzakh" is a project that unites India and Pakistan, filmed in the bustling city of Karachi and the breathtaking landscapes of the Hunza Valley. The show combines elements of realism and fantasy to tell a heartwarming family story that resembles a fairy tale. The story depicts spirits interacting with the living and a patriarch's unusual decision that brings the family back together.

The festival started on March 17th and will run through March 23rd, offering multiple screenings of "Barzakh" on different days. Saeed expressed her excitement on Instagram, saying that it was a privilege and an honour to represent South Asia at the prestigious festival, which she described as a melting pot of talent, creativity, and inclusion.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sanam Mody Saeed (@sanammody)

Since 2010, the Series Mania festival has been held annually in Lille, with the aim of identifying and showcasing the best series from around the world. The festival provides a platform for the finest screenwriters, directors, and artists to come together under one roof and share their creative vision.

On the work front, Saeed will next be seen in films Aan and Umro Ayyar - A New Beginning. Meanwhile, Khan was lauded for his performance in The Legend of Maula Jutt.

Sanam Saeed and Mohib Mirza make their first public appearance as a couple