Take a bow: Pakistanis celebrate ‘Joyland’ making history with Cannes win

The film won the country’s first-ever award at the prestigious film festival

Pakistanis woke up to the delightful news of Joyland winning big at the Cannes Film Festival, and they can’t keep calm! Offering some much needed respite from the flurry of bad news, Joyland’s win led to netizens flocking to social media to celebrate.

Actor Osman Khalid Butt tweeted out, “Saim Sadiq's Joyland wins the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes! A historic moment for Pakistan, and Pakistani cinema! Everyone should be amplifying this incredible news. Take a bow, Saim, and the entire cast and crew.”

Saim Sadiq's Joyland wins the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes!
A historic moment for Pakistan, and Pakistani cinema!
Everyone should be amplifying this incredible news.
Take a bow, Saim, and the entire cast and crew.

— Osman Khalid Butt (@aClockworkObi) May 28, 2022

Filmmaker Nabeel Qureshi wrote, “Huge huge huge achievement! Congratulations to the team & the makers! Unbelievable debut! Mashallah.”

#joyland receives a jury award at @Festival_Cannes huge huge huge achievement ! Congratulations to the team & the makers ! Unbelievable debut ! Mashallah

— Nabeel Qureshi (@nabeelqureshi) May 27, 2022

Actor Saba Qamar, who stars in Sarmad Khoosat’s Kamli, took to Instagram to congratulate the filmmaker, who is a producer of the winning feature. Sharing a video of Khoosat celebrating at Cannes, Qamar wrote on her Instagram story, “I’m so happy for you,” along with a heart and teary-eyed emoji. 

Actor and singer Azaan Sami Khan also took to social media to congratulate the team. Sharing a news post about the win, he wrote, “MashAllah bohot mubarak [many congratulations].” 

A Twitter user wrote about the film, “Incredible that Joyland has won the Jury prize at Cannes Film Festival. Take a bow Saim Sadiq and team! Take a bow! Real, beautiful films can be made in Pakistan, where there are no item numbers and bad dialogue.”

Incredible that Joyland has won the Jury prize at @Festival_Cannes. Take a bow #SaimSadiq and team!

Take a bow!

Real, beautiful films can be made in Pakistan, where there are no item numbers and bad dialogue. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 https://t.co/dBmxkjtLnn

— Alia Chughtai (@AliaChughtai) May 27, 2022

Holding strong through the nightmare imposed on the country and then I find out #Joyland has won the Jury Prize at #Cannes2022 - tears of joy right now. It's one of the most prestigious prizes in global filmmaking & it's coming home to Pakistan. Bravo Saim & Team Joyland! https://t.co/S7b4w9hJhl

— Nuzhat. (@guldaar) May 27, 2022

Joyland, the Pakistani film featuring a daring portrait of a transgender dancer in the Muslim country on Friday won the Cannes Queer Palm prize for best LGBT, queer or feminist-themed movie, the jury head told AFP.

Joyland by director Saim Sadiq, a tale of the sexual revolution, tells the story of the youngest son in a patriarchal family who is expected to produce a baby boy with his wife. He instead joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for the troupe's director, a trans woman.

It is the first-ever Pakistani competitive entry at the Cannes festival and on Friday also won the Jury Prize in the "Un Certain Regard" competition, a segment focusing on young, innovative cinema talent. "It's a very powerful film, that represents everything that we stand for," Queer Palm jury head, French director Catherine Corsini, told the publication.