Made for a Pakistani audience: Saim Sadiq’s ‘Joyland’ to release this winter

Cannes winner Saim Sadiq has finally revealed whether and when his award-winning film Joyland will be coming to Pakistan. The filmmaker had always maintained that Joyland was meant to be watched by Pakistanis but the question of whether it could, remained a matter of debate. But Saim has assured there is nothing in his film that could irk censor boards.

While speaking to Propergaanda, he shared that Joyland will hopefully hit local theatres in winters. “We’ll release it nationwide InshaAllah this winter but we’ll hear more confirmations, the whole shabang, post a trailer and stuff. We’ll start rolling in at the right time. Soon,” he said. “We’re just trying to ensure that we find a nice weekend where we can play and people can come and watch. Of course, it can play for as long as people want to watch it,” he added.

The director is, in fact, spending his days planning the release. And not because he is afraid the film will be banned. “Not to say the film is not made to make people uncomfortable but I don’t know what they will censor in the film, really. If I had to think of a scene or a dialogue, yeah, there may be one or two curse words which we can beep but that is the extent of it. What released film doesn’t have curse words? There are just two, very by-the-way type.”

Reinstating that the film was always made to be viewed by Pakistanis – with the Cannes win being a cherry on top – he added, “I knew the intent was always to screen the film in Pakistan, this whole other thing of going to Cannes and stuff, that just happened. But I made the film to show it here.”

Article source: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2367059/made-for-a-pakistani-audience-saim-sadiqs-joyland-to-release-this-winter