Joyland, the Pakistani film featuring a daring portrait of a transgender dancer in the Muslim country on Friday won the Cannes Queer Palm prize for best LGBT, queer or feminist-themed movie, the jury head told AFP.
Joyland by director Saim Sadiq, 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 is the first-ever Pakistani competitive entry at the Cannes festival and on Friday 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 the publication.
