Pakistani Film ‘Joyland’ Becomes First From Indian Subcontinent to Win in Un Certain Regard Section at Cannes
- Indian film “All That Breathes,” directed by Shaunak Sen received the L’Œil or Golden Eyetop award for best documentary.
Pakistani film “Joyland” has won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard (a section of the Cannes Film Festival’s official selection) of the 75th Cannes Film Festival that concluded on May 28, while Indian film “All That Breathes,” directed by Shaunak Sen received the L’Œil or Golden Eyetop award for best documentary.
Written and directed by debutant Saim Sadiq, and produced by Apoorva Guru Charan, “Joyland,” about a Lahore family in the firm grip of deep-rooted patriarchy, became the first-ever film from the subcontinent to receive an award in the Un Certain Regard.
Director Saim Sadiq told Deadline’s Cannes Studio that he learned of the selection while still finishing the movie. “It’s been a lot to process to be able to finish the film and at the same time to be able to reconcile with the fact that it was my first film and Pakistan’s first film.”
The story follows a patriarchal family as they yearn for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line, while their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theater and falls for a trans woman, according to the film’s synopsis. The film explores a whole family, presenting a picture of a clan torn between modernity and tradition in contemporary Lahore.
Charan told Deadline that the Cannes screening and award came with
“a sense of gratitude and also a sense of great responsibility.” He said he and Sadiq are r”epping a whole country” and are “grateful to be in that position,” a responsibility that they take very seriously.
In it’s review, Deadline called “Joyland” “a thoughtful, well performed and engrossing drama set in a culture that’s shifting, and not always with ease.” IndieWire called it “a daring queer Pakistani drama about desire,” while according to The Hollywood Reporter, “Sadiq’s debut feature observes the tension within a Pakistani family suffocated by societal conventions.”
Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” follows siblings Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who have devoted their lives to rescuing and treating injured birds, especially the Black Kites. From their makeshift bird hospital in their tiny basement, the ‘kite brothers’ care for thousands of these mesmeric creatures that drop daily from New Delhi’s smog-choked skies,” notes a description of the documentary.
The 90-minute documentary will be released in theaters in the fall after it was acquired by HBO Documentary Films. It will premiere on HBO and sister streaming platform HBO Max in 2023, as reported by Deadline. In January this year, “All That Breathes” won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. It has also screened at the DocAviv Film Festival in Tel Aviv and at Poland’s Krakow Film Festival.
This was the second straight L’Œil d’or win for an Indian documentary. “A Night of Knowing Nothing,” directed by Payal Kapadia, won last year.