by FilmInk Staff
FIRST LOOK AT ASTONISHING, WRONGFULLY ACCUSED FEATURE DOCUMENTARY “FRAMED” AHEAD OF TIFF: THE MARKET
Australian filmmaker Anupam Sharma today unveiled a first look poster for his next project, the feature documentary FRAMED, as the film opens to world sales at TIFF: The Market at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival.
An untold Australian story of global importance, the film is edited and co-written by the multi-award-winning Karin Steininger(Anne Frank Remembered).
FRAMED follows the devastating case of Kamer Nizamdeen, a 25-year-old Sri Lankan overseas student in Sydney, who was arrested and put in solitary confinement for a month on terrorism charges, only to be released with all charges dropped to face an ongoing battle to get his name back.
An astonishing story about Islamophobia and a forgery that fooled a nation, Nizamdeen was framed as a terrorist by a jealous colleague, swiftly having his life turned upside down as he faced ruinous accusations from a country that found the story about him only too easy to believe.
Shot across Sydney, Melbourne, Colombo and New York, FRAMED features exclusive interviews with Kamer and Najwa Nizamdeen, along with principal lawyer Moustafa Kheir of Birchgrove Legal.
Said Sharma, “The easy version of this film is a story about a man the system got wrong. That is not what we found. One person wrote one document, and everybody who picked it up afterwards believed it. Nobody here is the villain the headlines wanted, and that is exactly why it works as a thriller.
“It is nearly eight years to the day that Kamer was arrested and in July 2026, the Australian Federal Government released its response to Australia’s first national report on Islamophobia and accepted 35 of its recommendations. FRAMED arrives with that conversation already under way, and with the case that sits underneath it. To have Karin Steininger join us, alongside Janine Barnes, Cathy Rodda and our expanding team of creative and producing partners, gives this imprtant and timely Australian story the international ambition it deserves.”
Led by Sharma (UNindian, The Run, Brand Bollywood), who is widely credited for pioneering Australia’s film links with South Asia, the producing team for FRAMED includes executive producers Janine Barnes (Downriver) and Cathy Rodda (Bromley: Life After Dark), with AFTRS graduate Farabee Kabir in senior roles.
Said Karin Steininger, “Everybody in this film behaves reasonably on the information in front of them, and the information is false. It is rare to find a story that is at once so personal, so political and so socially relevant.
“There is also a twist in FRAMED that I am not going to describe. Audiences should meet it the way Kamer did.”
Forum Films is handling theatrical sales across Australia and New Zealand. All other territories are available, covering theatrical, streaming, broadcast and impact rights. A targeted impact and event-screening campaign will support theatrical engagement in Australia and in selected international territories.
FRAMED was developed with support from Screen Australia, Screen NSW and SBS, with post, digital and visual effects also supported by Screen NSW, and was selected for FACTory, the Australian International Documentary Conference’s international pitching forum for new documentary and factual projects.
With its distinctive Australian subject, its global relevance and a strong creative package, FRAMED is built to start conversations, reach premium documentary audiences and give distributors a powerful theatrical and impact proposition.
