Best of Fest Encores
MC Zed (Riz Ahmed) is a talented and angry young man, a British-Pakistani rapper seemingly at odds with the world and his family in equal measure. He’s channeled that anger into music, but on the cusp of stardom, his own body betrays him.
Zed, short for Zaheer, decides to visit his family in the UK before embarking on a tour that will launch his career. At home, trying both to reconnect with his roots and appease his more conservative family, he is struck by an autoimmune disease. His dreams fading quickly, Zed is falling apart physically, mentally and emotionally, his condition triggering terrifying hallucinations. As in his Oscar-nominated turn in Sound of Metal, Ahmed is electrifying, this time with his talents as one of the world’s great rappers also on display to augment a blistering performance. “This is abrasive, confrontational film-making, with a machine-gun assault of ideas and influences.” --Wendy Ide, The Observer (UK)
Director Biography
Born in 1986 in Karachi, Pakistan, Bassam Tariq was raised in New York City. A graduate of the University of Texas, he is a blogger (30 Mosques in 30 Days), co-founder of a Halal butcher shop, TED fellow, and director. He is the director of the documentaries These Birds Walk (2012) and 11/8/16 (2017). Mogul Mowgli (2020) is his debut feature.
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