A South Asian filmmaker form Toronto who’s first big feature film is in post-production was found dead in the west side of the city. Toronto Police have opened a homicide investigation into Reeyaz Habib, whose body was found in a dumpster on June 8. The 53 year-old Toronto filmmaker and USC film school alum’s directorial debut ‘Fat Lady Sriracha’ is in post-production.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

With News Files

TORONTO –A South Asian filmmaker form Toronto who’s first big feature film is in post-production was found dead in the west side of the city.

Toronto Police have opened a homicide investigation into Reeyaz Habib, whose body was found in a dumpster on June 8.

The Homicide and Missing Persons Unit is currently investigating the suspicious death that occurred in the East Liberty Street and Western Battery Road area.

Habib, 53, of Toronto was previously reported missing on Friday, June 9. 

Police are looking for information about Reeyaz Habib’s activities between Sunday, June 4 and Thursday, June 8, 2023.

Anyone with information or video from the area of 26 Western Battery Rd, please contact investigators. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or at www.222tips.com.

Habib, a graduate of the School of Cinematic Arts at USC, recently completed his directorial debut, the comedy Fat Lady Sriracha, which is in post production. Toronto Police Services on Wednesday said the homicide and missing persons unit was investigating a “suspicious death” that occurred on June 8 in the Liberty Village neighborhood, and appealed for help from the public to establish the director’s whereabouts between June 4 and 8, reported Hollywood Reporter.  

 “Reeyaz was a wonderfully kind spirit, full of an excitement for life and telling the complex yet necessary stories within it. He brought us all together to fulfill a lifelong dream. We’re extremely grateful for the time and trust we got to have with him and look forward to honoring his legacy by making sure his story gets told,” Fat Lady Sriracha producer Jaskaran Singh said in a statement.

Fat Lady Sriracha stars Milcania Diaz-Rojas, Carlo Rota, Richard Fitzpatrick, Benjamin Sutherland and Angela Besharah and follows an aspiring chef with little interest in family, but who becomes a surrogate mother to a loan shark to repay her deadbeat father’s gambling debts.

The film is based on Habib’s screenplay and is also produced by Shachi Sharma and associate produced by Rikhil Bahadur and Kate Hornsby. Game Theory Films will be distributing in Canada. The film was selected by Game Theory Film’s Black Indigenous and People of Color Fund.