Joyland

In the heart of the metropolitan yet conservative city of Lahore lives the Rana family, a lower middle class joint family comprising of the old patriarch, the elder son and pregnant wife with three daughters, and the youngest son Haider and his wife Mumtaz.

As the Rana’s eagerly anticipate the birth of a baby boy to continue their family line, Haider secretly takes up a job as a background dancer at an erotic theatre where he is drawn to an ambitious trans starlet, Biba.

Slowly yet suddenly, Haider and Biba are engulfed in a secret summer romance which surreptitiously takes over his home, unraveling the dichotomy between desire and morality for the entire Rana family. Joyland is a delicate, intelligent and emotionally rich film, and a truly remarkable debut from Sadiq.

"Remarkable study of gender roles in Pakistan – which won both the Jury Prize at the Queer Palm at Cannes last year" - BFI.

"This potent debut follows a couple and a trans woman dancer navigating rigid social constraints" - The Guardian, 4 stars

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