Daily Times

After bagging several international awards, Saim Sadiq’s Joyland will be released in Pakistan on November 18, the director confirmed.

The Federal and Provincial censor boards have given a green light to the award-winning film.

Sadiq had always maintained that Joyland was meant to be watched by Pakistanis but the question of whether it could, had remained a matter of debate. But Saim has assured there is nothing in his film that could irk censor boards.

Reinstating that the film was always made to be viewed by Pakistanis – with the Cannes win being a cherry on top – he added, “I knew the intent was always to screen the film in Pakistan, this whole other thing of going to Cannes and stuff, that just happened. But I made the film to show it here.”

Joyland features a daring portrait of a transgender dancer in the Muslim country first made headlines when it won the Cannes Queer Palm prize for best LGBT, queer or feminist-themed movie. Sadiq’s directorial, a tale of the sexual revolution, tells the story of the youngest son in a patriarchal family who is expected to produce a baby boy with his wife. He instead joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for the troupe’s director, a trans woman.

It was the first-ever Pakistani competitive entry at the Cannes festival and also won the Jury Prize in the “Un Certain Regard” competition, a segment focusing on young, innovative cinema talent. “It’s a very powerful film, that represents everything that we stand for,” Queer Palm jury head, French director Catherine Corsini, told AFP earlier.