Mogul Mowgli

Mogul Mowgli

Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival, Mogul Mowgli is an electrifying and deeply personal exploration of identity, illness, and artistic purpose. Co-written by director Bassam Tariq and star Riz Ahmed, the film follows a British-Pakistani rapper whose body and sense of self begin to unravel on the cusp of fame.

Zed (Ahmed), a rising hip-hop artist, returns to London after two years on tour, eager to reconnect with his family before launching his next big break. But when a sudden autoimmune disease leaves him hospitalized, he is forced to confront his fractured identity—torn between cultural heritage, ambition, and the fragile vessel of his own body.

Tariq’s direction weaves realism with surreal, hallucinatory sequences that blur the lines between memory and metaphor. Riz Ahmed delivers a tour-de-force performance, embodying both the physical vulnerability and emotional reckoning of a man caught between two worlds. The film’s pulsating energy—rooted in rap lyricism, ancestral dreams, and the tension of diaspora—builds toward a haunting reflection on legacy and selfhood.

Raw, poetic, and unapologetically introspective, Mogul Mowgli transcends the conventional music drama to become a meditation on what it means to lose control—of one’s career, one’s body, and one’s identity—in order to find something deeper and more enduring.

Screening With:

The Music Video

Canadian Shorts Showcase

In order to be in her older brother’s music video, Clara, a 13-year-old tomboy, agrees to undergo a radical change of style. She soon notices that this transformation changes her brother’s friend’s behaviour towards her. French with English subtitles.

13 mins 54s
Canada, 2020
Dir. Camille Poirier
Language: French

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