Left Handed Films, the production company owned by Academy Award-winning actor-producer Riz Ahmed, is onboard to executive produce Pakistani film Joyland. The film explores love and desire in a patriarchal society.
According to Variety, the film tells the story of Haider (Ali Junejo), who lives with his wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq), his father and his elder brother’s family in Lahore, Pakistan. After a long spell of unemployment, Haider lands a job working as a background dancer at a Bollywood-style burlesque — though he tells his family he’s the theater’s manager — and falls in love with Biba (Alina Khan), a transgender woman who runs the show.
The project also stars Sarwat Gilani, Sohail Sameer, Salmaan Peerzada and Sania Saeed. Written and directed by Saim Sadiq, Joyland made its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. The film was also awarded the Un Certain Regard jury prize and the Queer Palm. Additionally, it has been nominated for best international film at the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards and was recently shortlisted for best international feature film at the 95th Academy Awards, as Pakistan’s official entry.
“Joyland is ground-breaking. And it’s easy to get lost in all the ways that it is; the first Pakistani film at Cannes, the first award-winner, the first to be Oscar-shortlisted, and a queer love story that has overcome multiple obstacles to its release,” said Ahmed and Left Handed Films executive Allie Moore in a statement. “But more important than any of the glass ceilings it smashes, is how this film so masterfully breaks our hearts. Saim Sadiq’s filmmaking is both understated and gut-wrenching.
“His writing is consistently unexpected — both unflinchingly joyous and devastating,” the statement continues. “His every scene so elegantly composed yet bursting with vividly raw characters and performances. Joyland is one of the best films of the year, and against all odds of resources and marketing budgets, it’s been amazing to see festival juries, audiences, and critics shouting that from the rooftops.” Ahmed’s production company recently grabbed three Oscar nominations in 2022 and won its first Oscar for The Long Goodbye, a live-action short film Ahmed co-wrote and starred.
