***NOW PLAYING***
AFS CINEMA
6259 Middle Fiskville Road • Austin, TX 78752
In Partnership with aGLIFF, Indie Meme, and Austin Asian American Film Festivals
Dates & Screening Times Vary
JOYLAND | Pakistan | 2021 | 127 minutes | Urdu & Punjabi with English subtitles
Writer and Director: Saim Sadiq | Producers: Apoorva Guru Charan, Sarmad Sultan Khoosat, Sabiha Sumar, Lauren Mann | Cast: Ali Junejo, Rasti Farooq, Alina Khan, Sarwat Gilani, Sania Saeed, Salmann Peerzada
Since premiering and winning the Jury Prize in the 2022 Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival (the first to do so from the Indian subcontinent), Joyland has moved audiences worldwide with its human portrayal of the limits of love in the face of patriarchy.
Haider rushes his sister-in-law to the hospital, where she gives birth to a girl, devastating the extended family desperate for a baby boy. The brothers’ elderly father is still hopeful Haider and his wife, Mumtaz, despite their unorthodox relationship, will bring them their much-desired male heir. Everything changes, though, when Haider takes a job as a backup dancer at an erotic theater and falls in love with its beautiful transgender star Biba.
Joyland is both a loving portrait of the people of Lahore, Pakistan, and a painful depiction of how traditional gender roles and repressed sexuality harm all. Showcasing incredible performances and shot with a sharp yet kind eye, feature debut writer-director Saim Sadiq crafts an unforgettable cinematic experience about how vaguely understood but powerful societal expectations can destroy an individual, relationship, and family.
Trailer for JOYLAND can be found HERE.
TICKETS: General admission tickets for AFS Cinema are $11.00 for matinee screenings and $13.50 for evening screenings. aGLIFF subscribers can use discount code 3AGLIFF (case sensitive) at checkout to save $3.00. Alternate discounts may apply for AFS members.
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Special thanks the following partners for this screening:
