Joyland makes the International Feature Oscar shortlist

Director Saim Sadiq and his team have yet another reason to celebrate. His critically acclaimed film Joyland just made Academy Award history as the first Pakistani movie that has ever been shortlisted for the International Feature Oscar.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed the 15 films that have advanced to the nominations process for the aforementioned award, and the Pakistani drama – that has been earning rave reviews from critics around the globe – has made the cut.

Joyland has been an international sensation since its world premiere in May earlier this year at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Jury Prize and the Queer Palm award. The project has continued to earn ovation at film festivals ever since, and was officially picked as Pakistan’s entry for the Oscars in September.

The response at home, however, has been more polarizing. The film, which tells the story of a middle-class family whose youngest son takes a job at a dance theater, has been cited by some for what they deem to be “highly objectionable material”, stemming primarily from a storyline about a man falling for a transgender woman. The movie was initially OKed, then banned, and then unbanned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting before its November release in the country.

Thanks to the shortlisting, the film can continue on its journey to the Oscars, and now faces competition from other acclaimed international projects, including India’s Last Film Show as well as Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths which is representing Mexico in the category.

The final nominations, which will bring the list down to five films, are set to be announced on January 24, 2023.