UK distributor Studio Soho has announced having acquired the UK and Ireland rights for Saim Sadiq‘s debut feature Joyland, which took home this year’s Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury Prize.
Joyland is the first feature film by a Pakistani director to win at the Cannes Film Festival. Alongside its jury prize win, Joyland won the Queer Palme award at Cannes.
Written and directed by Sadiq, whose previous short film “Darling” won the Orizzonti Best Short Film award at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, Joyland centers on a patriarchal family yearning for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line. Meanwhile, their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for an ambitious trans starlet. Their impossible love story begins to illuminate the entire family’s desire for a sexual rebellion.
The film stars Ali Junejo, Alina Khan, Rasti Farooq, Sarwat Gilani, Sohail Sameer, Salman Peerzada, and Sania Saeed.
JOYLAND’s UK premiere will take place at this year’s London Film Festival on October 6th as part of the Sutherland Award (first feature competition).
