Saim Siddiqui’s ‘Joyland’ will become the first Pakistani movie to feature at the Cannes Film Festival this year. The trailblazing film spotlights Alina Khan, a transgender actor in the lead and is all set to make history!
The filmmaker Saim Sadiq shared the news of the film making it to the internationally coveted Festival De Cannes writing “I am so excited to share the first image of JOYLAND and deeply humbled that the film is going to have it’s world premiere at the 75th Cannes Film Festival. Virtual hugs for my cast and crew who deserve this moment and so much more. 🎡🎢”
Yesterday, both co-producer and Casting Director for the film Sana Jafri and leading actor Alina Khan arrived at Cannes.
Earlier, Co-producer of the film Sana Jafri also took to social media to share the celebratory news. Talking about making history, Sana wrote, “Yeah guys, this is real. It has happened, history has been created again. [This is] the first Pakistani feature film at Festival De Cannes!”
The film also features Ali Junejo, Sarwat Gilani, Rasti Farooq, Sania Saeed and Salman Peerzada. The plot centers around a patriarchal family yearning for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line, followed by an intricate plot revolving around gender, sexuality and societal notions around the two unfolding into a complicated love story. The film has been nominated in the category ‘Uncertain Regard’ at the Cannes Festival.