Sometimes serene, other times treacherous, the ocean functions as a leitmotif of liberation throughout Joyland, serving as a poetic allusion to all the beauty and tragedy contained within the movie and its richly constructed characters.
Initially introduced to audiences at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022, where it served as the first ever Pakistani movie to compete in the festival’s Un Certain Regard section, Joyland is the fantastic feature debut from 32-year-old filmmaker Saim Sadiq.
Simultaneously celebrating the director’s birthplace of Lahore and examining the city’s predominantly traditional values, Joyland challenges the longstanding patriarchal conventions of Pakistan through a superb exploration of self-identity and desire.
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