Joyland

It was the first Pakistani film to premiere at the Cannes film festival; the first to make it to the Oscars’ international feature film shortlist. But Joyland, Saim Sadiq’s remarkably accomplished Punjabi and Urdu-language debut, is equally groundbreaking in other ways. At the core of the film is a love triangle, between Haider (Ali Junejo), the gentle son of an overbearing father; his smart, independent wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq, terrific) and Biba (Alina Khan), the feisty trans woman dancer who gives him a job. But the…

Saim Sadiq is a cafe in London ahead of a screening of his debut film, Joyland. The film, which he co-wrote and directed, is a tender love story set in Lahore about an unemployed married man, Haider (Ali Junejo), who comes from a traditional family but takes a job as a backing dancer at an erotic dance theatre where he falls in love with a transgender woman called Biba (Alina Khan).The film won the Jury prize at Cannes last May. It was the first Pakistani film to be screened at the festival; it has been praised by Riz…

The right way to feel love, and the right way to feel part of a family, are the insoluble difficulties at the heart of this mysterious, sad and tender movie from Pakistan, a drama brimming with life and novelistic detail, directed by the first-time film-maker Saim Sadiq. He has been rewarded with the Un Certain Regard jury prize at Cannes, an official entry-shortlisting for the Academy Awards (though not a final nomination), and derision and censorship from Pakistan’s sterner political classes for his film’s supposed…

As the male lead wades through the ocean and waves gently hit the shore, the cinema screen fades to the title: Joyland – Pakistan’s entry for the Oscars, on release in the capital Islamabad from Monday after weeks of controversy.The winner of the jury prize at the Cannes film festival narrates the love story about the youngest son of a “happily patriarchal joint family” and a trans woman he meets after secretly joining an erotic dance theatre.As pressure from hardline Islamic groups mounted in the week before its official…

`Joyland` is set to have a joy ride in Pakistan. The Shehbaz Sharif government has reversed its ban on Saim Sadiq`s Cannes-winning Oscar contender, reports `Variety`, quoting a senior adviser. Salman Sufi, head of Prime Minister Sharif`s Strategic Reforms unit, who has been a vocal opponent of the ban revealed the news on Twitter. He said the film will now be allowed to be released, albeit with some minor cuts. "The decision is a simple yet powerful message that the government stands by freedom of speech and safeguards…

‘It’s heartbreaking to see that things haven’t changed a bit, probably just gotten worse,’ says filmmaker Javaria Waseem ‘It’s heartbreaking to see that things haven’t changed a bit, probably just gotten worse,’ says filmmaker Javaria Waseem FOLLOW US ON GOOGLE NEWS Read original article here Denial of responsibility! Techno Blender is an automatic aggregator of the all world’s media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all…

Malala Yousafzai comes onboard as executive producer for Pakistan’s Oscar submission ‘Joyland’ ( Photo Credit – Wikimedia ) Female education activist Malala Yousafzai, who heads her own film and TV production company, Extracurricular Productions, is joining “Joyland”, Pakistan’s Oscar submission in the international feature category, as an executive producer, reports ‘Variety’. The film had its world premiere at Cannes earlier this year where it won the Queer Palm and the jury prize at the festival’s Un Certain…