‘Joyland’ Cannes Film From Pakistan Picked up by Film Constellation, WME:

Film Constellation, a U.K- and France-based sales firm, has been appointed to handle international rights for “Joyland,” which is set to be the first Pakistan-made film in Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival. Sales duties will be shared with WME Independent, which is representing North American rights.

The tale of sexual revolution sees a happily patriarchal joint family yearn for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line, while their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for an ambitious transsexual starlet.

The film is the feature debut of writer and director Saim Sadiq, whose previous short film “Darling” won the Orizzonti Best Short Film award at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and was acquired for worldwide distribution by Focus Features.

The film stars Ali Junejo, Alina Khan, Rasti Farooq, Sarwat Gilani, Sohail Sameer, Salman Peerzada, and Sania Saeed. Cinematography is by Joe Saade (“Costa Brava Lebanon,” “Broken Keys”).

Production is by Apoorva Guru Charan, Sarmad Sultan Khoosat (“Circus of Life”) and Lauren Mann (“Swiss Army Man,” “The Card Counter”). It was produced through all caps & Khoosat Films in association with Diversity Hire, One Two Twenty Entertainment, Blood Moon Creative, Film Manufacturers, Astrakan 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.

“My amazing cast has given the characters of Joyland a kind of empathy and humanity that a filmmaker can only hope for and I am thrilled for the world to experience their magic,” said Sadiq.

“Saim has weaved a tender and sensual modern day family tale, wrestling with the weight of manufactured gender roles. It radiates the shared desire to live and love without compromise,” said Fabien Westerhoff, CEO of Film Constellation.

View this article at Variety.