'Joyland' teaser offers glimpses of love, dread and madness

The clip shares a side of the country rarely seen, hardly talked about and almost always villainised

The teaser for the much-awaited, Cannes-winning film Joyland is finally out. It offers glimpses of the joy and tragedy that is set to unfold in the Saim Sadiq directorial that has made waves around the world. 

For a society painted in dull grey and oftentimes, shades of dreary red, when represented in films globally, the 45-second clip of the evidently multi-dimensional film presents an array of colours and diversity. It shares with the world a side of the country rarely seen, hardly talked about and almost always villainised. 

The teaser catches a man in love, a woman in her wilderness, a family celebrating in its spacious little bubble which is expected to soon burst and a transwoman drenched in blood. The teaser then presents glimpses of a show that is about to go down as the audience awaits to be dazzled by dance, despair and dreams that go up in glitter and smoke. 

Joyland is set to release in Pakistani cinemas on November 18. It features a daring portrait of a transgender dancer in a Muslim country first made headlines when it won the Cannes Queer Palm prize for best LGBT, queer or feminist-themed movie.

A tale of the sexual revolution, it 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 was the first-ever Pakistani competitive entry at the Cannes festival and also won the Jury Prize in the "Un Certain Regard" competition. The film is also Pakistan’s official entry to the Oscars. Joyland stars Ali Junejo, Rasti Farooq, Alina Khan, and Sarwat Gilani.

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