JOYLAND / World Premiere @ Cannes Un Certain Regard With Director Saim Sadiq

WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Saim Sadiq, Sadiq’s debut feature JOYLAND follows his short film, DARLING, which won the Orizzonti Best Short Film award at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and was acquired for worldwide distribution by Focus Features.

As the Ranas — a happily patriarchal joint family — yearn for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line, their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for an ambitious trans starlet. Their impossible love story slowly illuminates the entire Rana family’s desire for a sexual rebellion.

STARRING Ali Junejo, Alina Khan, Rasti Farooq, Sarwat Gilani, Sohail Sameer, Salman Peerzada, and Sania Saeed and features bravura cinematography by Joe Saade (Costa Brava Lebanon, Broken Keys).

PRODUCED BY Apoorva Guru Charan, Sarmad Sultan Khoosat (Circus of Life) & Lauren Mann (Swiss Army Man, The Card Counter), JOYLAND will compete in the Official Selection’s Un Certain Regard and will also vie for the Caméra d’Or.

JOYLAND is produced by all caps & Khoosat Films in association with Diversity Hire Ltd, One Two Twenty Entertainment, Blood Moon Creative, Film Manufacturers Inc, Astrakan AB, and Noruz Films from producers Kathryn M. Moseley, Oliver Ridge, April Shih, and Katharina Otto-Bernstein.

Executive Producers are Ramin Bahrani, William Olsson, Jen Goyne Blake, Tiffany Boyle, Elsa Ramo, Hari Charana Prasad, Sukanya Puvvula, Oleg Dubson, Kathrin Lohmann, and Owais Ahmed.