‘There’s No Room for a Quiet Person’

Pakistani filmmaker Saim Sadiq assumed that when he completed his debut feature, Joyland — which took him more than six years to develop, write, shoot and edit — his work on the project would essentially be done. He was, unfortunately, mistaken. Joyland
tells the story of the Ranas, a large family living in the heart of bustling Lahore. While the family yearns for the birth of a male grandson, the soft-spoken youngest son, who has a sweet but asexual relationship with a wife
by arranged marriage, secretly takes up a job as a background dancer at an erotic theater, where he falls for a trans starlet. As their romance blossoms, strains emerge within the family, illuminating how each of them might belonging for a form of sexual rebellion of their own — outside the
bounds of traditional patriarchy. Joyland was selected by the Pakistani Academy Selection Committee as the country’s official submission, but the film’s reception in its native country has been fraught. On Nov. 11, a week before its scheduled national release, the national film board bowed to pressure from conservative groups and decertified the film, saying it was “damaging to the nation’s moral fabric.” Sadiq, his actors, producers and industry allies sprang into action, marshaling support for the film.

On Nov. 16, a committee launched by Pakistan’s prime minister’s office reapproved the film. Sadiq’s moment of celebration was brief, however. On Nov. 17, the censorship committee of Punjab — Pakistan’s largest province, where over 70 percent of the country’s cinemas are located and where Joyland is set — announced that it would ban the film within its jurisdiction.

Now, Sadiq and his allies believe their only hope is that the film will become Pakistan’s first Oscar.

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