After Pakistani director Saim Sadiq’s Joyland received a standing ovation and an award at Cannes Film Festival, the cast had another historic moment when they won an award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM).
Joyland was termed a winner in the Best Film from the Subcontinent category at the award show. A clip saw director Sadiq and actor Alina Khan walking on stage with their team to collect their award.
IFFM kick-started on the 12th of August and will continue till the 30th of August. The category had Joyland competing with Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom from Bhutan, No Land’s Man and Rehana Maryam Noor from Bangladesh and The Newspaper from Sri Lanka.
Joyland, a tale of the sexual revolution, tells the story of the youngest son of a patriarchal family who is expected to produce a baby boy with his wife. Instead, he joins an erotic dance club and falls for a trans woman.
Alina Khan, The Darling actor shared some photos from the ceremony, including one with Bollywood’s Abhishek Bachchan, and wrote, “We are so honoured and thankful that IFFM (Indian Film Festival of Melbourne) gave us the best birthday gift for Pakistan by awarding Joyland with the Best Film from the Subcontinent Award on the August 14! It was a truly special night shared with so many artists from across the border who were all so warm and welcoming towards us and our film. Thank you, Allah!”
View this post on Instagram
The talented director Saim shared, “Emotionally, observationally, if I’ve seen a vulnerable moment in my mother or aunt, I have inculcated that in Joyland. When you feel, you don’t belong to that boys’ club, how it doesn’t come naturally to you, you start wondering if it makes you any less of a man. When you’re not interested in cricket or having other ‘masculine traits’, you start questioning the notion of masculinity. Why those nuances are so strict? Why do they stifle you unnecessarily? Those things did make their way into the film. Understanding the privilege that comes with being a man also made its way into Joyland.”
Joyland was Pakistan’s first competitive entry at Cannes. The film stars Sarwat Gilani, Sania Saeed, Ali Junejo, Khan, and Rasti Farooq.
‘Joyland’: First-ever Cannes winning film on trans dancer to be screened in Pakistan ‘in time’
