Pakistani screenwriter and Director Saim Sadiq left the 75th Cannes Film Festival with two awards.
His film Joyland won a Un Certain Regard award and received the Queer Palm, a special award from the festival's independent jury, which honors films that highlight LGBTQ themes.
< p>Not too bad for the first Pakistani film to be selected for a prestigious French festival. The film touches on important themes in Pakistan.
«Transgender people are very visible in Pakistani society, especially in Lahore, where I grew up,» says Saim Sadiq in an interview with Euronews Culture.
«When you're driving… unfortunately you see a lot of these people begging at traffic lights,» recalls the director.
It was these meetings that inspired Sadiq to create his first feature film. The film premiered to wild applause and became the first Pakistani film to be shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
The film is set in Lahore. It is «a deromanticization of the coming-of-age tale and a tribute to all women, men and transgender people who pay the human price of patriarchy,» Sadiq says.
The film tells the story of a family whose aging head Rana Amanullah (Salman Pirzada) places the burden of heavy expectations on his two sons. The eldest son Salim (Sohail Sameer) is an alpha male, his younger brother Hyder (Ali Junejo) performs household duties, various assignments and looks after his two nieces. Wounded by the fact that he does not live up to his father's hopes, young Haider takes an unusual job. He joins a dance troupe where he falls in love with the show's star Biba (Alina Khan).
The debate about transgender people in the world has recently taken up a lot of space in the media.
Culture wars have an impact on the language: gender pronouns are used and new vocabulary is introduced. Awards ceremonies do away with gender categories. Society is learning to adapt. But in a country like Pakistan, this issue has been discussed for decades and is causing a serious split.
Pakistani society rejects transgender people, who are called «Khwaja Sira» in the country. They are marginalized, often ridiculed and disenfranchised due to social stigma. Many of them are poor and desperately trying to earn a living. Some become involved in the sex trade.
Saim Sadiq conceived the film's protagonist, Biba, while working for an NGO that helps the trans community in Lahore.
«I talked with them, documented their life experiences. I took everything I could from their stories, which formed the basis of the film,» the director recalls.
Despite the lack of intimate scenes, the film was originally banned from showing in Pakistan. The decision was later reversed, with the exception of one province, Punjab, where the film is set.
When asked if the international recognition of «Land of Joy» helped build a bridge for the Pakistani trans community, Sadiq replied that «such Building a bridge is not easy. The director adds that misogynistic, transphobic and homophobic views have intensified since the film's release.
«All the attacks were bigoted, full of hate,» he shares.
«I give credit to my actors for having the courage to play these roles. Fortunately, they did not get into dangerous situations, although the film caused a storm of indignation,» Sadik says.
The creation of «Land of Joy» helped Sadik overcome the difficulties associated with his own sexuality.
“On a personal level, it was a cleansing process,” recalls the director. “Instead of constantly immersing myself in my trauma, the film helped me change my views. It was a salvation for me.”
Sadik is new to the film industry, but he is already being compared to Pedro Almodóvar. Like the Spanish director, Sadiq dares to explore unconventional images, shows forbidden desires, is not constrained by gender restrictions.
Sadiq calls «Land of Joy» «a heartbreaking love letter to the motherland» and recalls the struggle between desire and morality: it was not easy to tackle a taboo subject that is rarely portrayed in Pakistani films.
Since its premiere in Cannes last year, Joyland has been screened at various festivals around the world, including the Toronto International Film Festival, Zurich Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Brisbane Film Festival and AFI Fest in the US.
The film was released in theaters in the UK and Ireland at the end of February. In the coming months, it will be screened at the UK Borderlines Film Festival and at Roze Filmdagen in the Netherlands, and in the US in April.