A Pakistani film wins the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Fest for the first time
If you are a film lover, you might have read about ‘Joyland’, Pakistan’s first-ever entry to the Cannes Film Festival, having won the Prix du Jury (Jury Prize) and Queer Palm Award. The 126-minute-long Urdu drama written and directed by Saim Sadiq, his debut feature at the international film event, talks about gender and sexuality set in a busy Lahore household. Starring Rasti Farooq, Alina Khan, Sarwat Gilani, Ali Junejo, etc., the movie received a standing ovation at the premiere on 23rd May, 2022 at the 75th Cannes Film Festival. Here’s all you need to know about this award-winning film.
What is Joyland about?
Joyland is a fictitious story set in Lahore about a middle-class family in which a wheelchair-bound, strict patriarch rules over his two sons and daughters-in-law. He wants his kids to give him grandchildren, but all changes when his younger son, Haider, falls in love with Biba, a transgender dancer played by Alina Khan. Well, when you do get a chance to watch this engrossing film, you might as well notice that Joyland is a thoughtful, well-acted, and compelling drama set in a changing world that isn't always easy to navigate through. Ali Junejo (called Haider in the film) plays the house husband to his beautician wife Rasti Farooq (named Mumtaz). The screenplay shows him breaking down old-age customs by caring for his three nieces and assisting his sister-in-law with household chores, including cooking. Well, depicting all of this in a conservative Pakistani household isn’t easy, right? The outcome is a gripping human drama in which gender stereotypes and limiting thinking are questioned.
Awards won by Joyland
Well, the film, based on a transgender love story, was nominated in four categories at the Cannes Film Festival: Un Certain Regard Award, Un Certain Regard Jury Prize, Camera d’Or and Queer Palm Award. The movie won in two of them: Un Certain Regard Jury Prize and Queer Palm. So, Un Certain Regard (A Certain Glance) is a segment of the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival which runs concurrently with the Palme d'Or award (Golden Palm). It showcases 20 films with unique aesthetics and non-traditional stories that are vying for international recognition. On the other hand, the Queer Palm is a prize awarded by an independent sponsor to selected LGBT-related films competing in the Cannes Film Festival.
Life and Works of Saim Sadiq
Saim Sadiq is a Pakistani filmmaker whose short film Darling was the first Pakistani film to screen at the 76th Venice Film Festival, winning the award of Best Short Film. Darling was also a Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2019 official selection, received a Special Jury Mention award at South by Southwest (SXSW) 2020, and was picked up by Focus Features for distribution. Nice Talking To You, his previous short film, was an official selection at SXSW 2019, Palm Springs 2019, BAFTA Shortlist for Best Student Film, and earned Vimeo's Best Director award as well as the Kodak Gold Award at Columbia University Film Festival.