Joyland secures Best International Film award

winning multiple awards, the globally acclaimed Pakistani motion picture ‘Joyland’ has achieved another success as it has ensured the Best International Film Award at the Independent Spirit Awards 2023.

The film that explores transgender issues in Pakistan outlasted four other nominations in the award category, including Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, Martika Ramirez Escobar’s Leonor Will Never Die, Davy Chou’s Return to Seoul, and Alice Diop’s Saint-Omer. Directed by Saim Sadiq, the movie stars a trans woman in the lead role in a first for Pakistan and has bagged appreciation and praise from all over the world.  It is strictly focused on the lives of transgender people and building an unbiased narrative of their struggles. Apart from winning multiple awards, Joyland made history by claiming the most coveted jury prize in the “Un Certain Regard” competition. This category reportedly focused on artistically daring movies, at the 75th Cannes Film Festival in France last year.

It was the first-ever Pakistani movie that was nominated at Cannes and managed to beat the other 13 nominated movies at the festival. The movie is also an Oscars contender from Pakistan. Joyland was released worldwide but banned by the censor board of Pakistan over “highly objectionable material”.