CANNES (France): Joyland director Saim Sadiq and cast members Alina Khan, Ali Junejo, Sarwat Gilani, Sania Saeed, Rasti Farooq and producers Apoorva Guru Charan and Sana Jafri pose during a photo call.—Reuters
CANNES (France): Joyland director Saim Sadiq and cast members Alina Khan, Ali Junejo, Sarwat Gilani, Sania Saeed, Rasti Farooq and producers Apoorva Guru Charan and Sana Jafri pose during a photo call.—Reuters

CANNES: The debut screening of Pakistan’s first entry to the Cannes Film Festival felt like “a dream has come true”, one of its stars Sarwat Gilani said after the film — which seeks to break gender stereotypes in her country — received a prolonged standing ovation.

“It felt like the hard work that people do, the struggles that we face as artists in Pakistan, they’ve all come to be worth it,” Gilani said on Tuesday.

Gilani, a film and TV star best known for her latest series Churails, plays Nucchi in Joyland, which competes in the “Un Certain Regard” section, a competition focused on more art-house films that runs parallel to the main “Palme d’Or” prize.

Nucchi belongs to a household that has long hoped for the birth of a son to continue the family line, with the consecutive birth of her three daughters not enough to please her conservative father-in-law.

And her brother-in-law Haider secretly falls in love with a transgender woman Biba, who fights for her right to work as a performer.

Joyland also explores the frustration of women seeking to pursue a profession, when Haider’s wife Mumtaz falls into depression for being forced to stay at home and do household chores and stop working as a make-up artist.

“It’s not just about a love story anymore. It’s about real-time issues, real life issues that we all go through,” Gilani said. “Having a woman, a trans, represent that sector of the society, I think it’s a really good step in the direction where we can say we can write progressive stories.”

Gilani said she hoped Pakistani movie-goers would give Joyland as warm a reception as it received in Cannes.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2022

Opinion

Editorial

New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.
Ceasefire, finally
Updated 26 Mar, 2024

Ceasefire, finally

Palestinian lives matter, and a generation of orphaned Gazan children will be looking to the world community to secure justice for them.
Afghan return
26 Mar, 2024

Afghan return

FOLLOWING a controversial first repatriation phase involving ‘illegal’ Afghan refugees last November, the...
Planes and plans
26 Mar, 2024

Planes and plans

FOR the past many years, PIA has been getting little by way of good press, mostly on account of internal...