Film, that's currently screening in Pakistan will be competing against Marie Kreutzer's Corsage, Martika Ramirez Escobar's Leonor Will Never Die, Davy Chou's Return to Seoul and Alice Diop's Saint Omer. Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's Everything Everywhere all at once, starring Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis, led tally with eight nominations, best feature, best director, best lead performance, Curtis and Quan for best supporting performance, best breakthrough performance, best screenplay and best editing.

Right behind their film was Todd Field's Tar with seven nominations and Charlotte Wells' Aftersun with five. Sadiq's Joyland has many feathers in its cap, starting with it being first Cannes entry for Pakistan and bagging jury prize in Un Certain Regard segment. It also got best film award at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne and, more recently, 'Joyland' was selected as Pakistan's official submission for Oscars. Film is set in Lahore and narrates story of Ranas, a middle-class family with stringent and patriarchal family values. These values are severed when youngest son in family, Haider, played by Ali Junejo, joins dance theatre and falls for transgender dancer named Biba, played by Alina Khan. Film also stars Sarwat Gilani, Rasti Farooq, Sania Saeed, Sohail Sameer and Salmaan Peerzada.

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 24 2022

Like Business on Facebook, follow @DailyNCourier on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.