A groundbreaking film — the first Pakistani film to play at the Cannes Film Festival and to be shortlisted for the Best International Feature Oscar. Saim Sadiq’s debut feature, Joyland, is a bittersweet tale of repressed desire and the quest for individual freedom.
The Ranas--a happily patriarchal joint family--yearn for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line. Their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for an ambitious trans starlet. Their impossible love story slowly illuminates the entire Rana family's desire for sexual rebellion.
Reviews
"This is Haider Rana (Ali Junejo), a soft-spoken husband to an outspoken wife. The film revolves around him and uses him as its magnifying glass to zero in on social rigidities — gender and sexuality in particular — and the quiet, often painful ways in which they manifest". – IndieWire
As part of our See Change initiative, we strive to showcase the work of women and non-binary individuals and their behind-the-scenes involvement in a production.
This film is co-written by Maggie Briggs, edited by Jasmin Tenucci, and produced by Apoorva Guru Charan,
Katharina Otto-Bernstein, Jamila Wenske, Sabiha Sumar, April Shih, Kathryn M. Moseley, Lauren Mann, and Sana Jafri.
