Blacksand Pictures have released first-look photos from Salma’s Season, a 6 x 5-minute comedy-drama series written and directed by Kauthar Abdulalim (#Matched, The Ninth Tower), currently wrapped shooting in Melbourne, Australia.
Salma’s Season chronicles the Australian adventures of Salma, a 45-year-old Australian-Pakistani woman whose traditional world is turned upside-down when she rebels against her roles as a dutiful wife and doting mother to chase her dream of playing at the Australian Open grand slam tennis championship.
Kauthar says: “Salma’s Season invites us into a world seldom seen in Australia, where the aspirations and lives of Muslim women are as invisible and unfamiliar as the dark side of the moon. Much of the comedy comes from the reliability of the everyday struggles of Muslim women who are on a journey of negotiating the fault line between minority and mainstream Australia. It’s a sisterhood unlike any seen before on Australian screens.” Salma’s Season portrays Melburnian Muslim women with rich characterisation, authentic detail and a splash of humour. It tells the life-affirming story of women who must overcome the prejudices they encounter both in their own communities and in the broader Australian society if they are to live their lives to the fullest. The series stars Faryaal Jabbar as Salma with Seble Girma, Pudak Nayati and Lyeba Khan as her friends Nur, Maryam and Zoya, with Salma’s tennis coach, Brod, played by Bryan Hynes. The series is produced by Sher-Li Tan with Lucy Maclaren as supervising producer, and executive producers Kauthar Abdulalim, Tony Jackson and David Collins. International distributor is Vidly who will release the series worldwide via SVOD app and their YouTube channel. Salma’s Season received principal production funding from Screen Australia in association with VicScreen.