‘The frame moves slowly, if at all, but it always brims with physical and emotional energy; in “Joyland,” there’s always something in the ether, whether embodied by dazzling displays of light as characters move across stages and club floors, or by breathtaking silences as they begin to figure each other out, and figure out themselves.” - Siddhant Adlakha, IndieWire
“Joyland” tells the story of a patriarchal family that yearns for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line, while their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for an ambitious trans starlet.
The first Pakistani film to premiere at Cannes, Saim Sadiq’s “Joyland” won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize and the Queer Palm at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.