Director’s Bio
Sean is the son of a Vietnamese Mother and a Pakistani father. Born in the banlieue of Paris in 1986, he moved to London at the age of six, a city he has come to call home.
He is the youngest son of the late AJ Kardar, the first filmmaker from Pakistan to submit a Film to the Academy Awards in 1960 and went on to achieve international festival recognition.
His Vietnamese family are part of the diaspora that fled the war in Vietnam to settle in France.
Having graduated in Film Studies at Queen Mary University in 2007, he spent his early years dedicated to competing in international martial arts tournaments, travelling the world, representing the country fulfilling his ambitions of an athlete. Achieving European Champion Gold medals for three times and World bronze medalist in 2010.
It is with his diverse heritage and a fascination with the visual medium of cinema that he is passionate about stories that reflects his multicultural experience and that explores the intersections of identity, faith, and culture.
Jamie’s Wager
Written and Directed by Sean Kardar, Jamie’s Wager is Sean’s first narrative film currently starting the festival circuit.
Synopsis
With the unexpected death of his father, Jamie finds himself in the middle of his Muslim uncle, Hafiz, and his father’s New-Age girlfriend, Alicia, at the office of William's Funeral Directors.
Presented with a series of burial options catering for every religious denomination, uncertain about his father’s beliefs, or his own, he finds himself at a crossroads between religious tradition and his secular upbringing. Should he be buried as a Muslim? Or was he a modern day “spiritual?”
Sitting in a dated wood panelled office, the grieving family undergo the Funeral Director’s well-oiled administrative process.
Desperately attempting to make sense of it all, wanting to do the right thing, Jamie’s places a wager on what he believes may be the most pragmatic solution, but we are left wondering if this was the right decision and was he able to get closure?