Pakistani film “Joyland”, written and directed by debutant Saim Sadiq, won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 75th Cannes Film Festival on Friday, becoming the first-ever film from the subcontinent to bag the award.
“Joyland”, a drama about a Lahore family in the firm grip of deep-rooted patriarchy, was pipped to the section’s top award, the Un Certain Regard Prize, by the French film “Les Pires” (The Worst Ones), helmed by the Paris-based directing duo of Lisa Akoka and Romane Gueret.
“Les Pires” is the second female-helmed film in two years to win the coveted award. Last year, the Un Certain Regard prize was won by Kira Kivalenko’s “Unclenching the Fists”.
The award for “Joyland” represents a global breakthrough of immeasurable proportions for the relatively small Pakistani movie industry.
Incidentally, “Joyland” also won the Prix Queer Palm, awarded by Jury chaired by filmmaker Catherine Corsini on Friday. One of the central characters in the film is a transwoman played by a real-life transwoman Alina Khan
The Un Certain Regard Best Director Award went to the Romanian director Alexandre Belc for “Metronom”, while the Best Screenplay Prize was bagged by the Israeli-Palestinian director Maha Haj for “Mediterranean Fever”.
Luxembourg actress Vicky Krieps, for her performance in Austrian filmmaker Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage”, shared the best acting award with French actor Adam Bessa’s turn in Nathan Lotfy’s “Harka”.
The Un Certain Regard jury was chaired by Italian producer-director-actress Valeria Golino.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
For all the latest business News Click Here
