THURSDAY, SEPT 8, from 18:30
AT CinÉma Elvire Popesco

About the film

Drama, 126', 2022, PK
D: Saim Sadiq

As the happily patriarchal Rana family craves for the birth of a baby boy, the youngest of the Rana men secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and finds himself falling for a fiercely ambitious trans starlet. Their impossible love story slowly illuminates the entire Rana family's desire for a sexual rebellion.

The film won the Queer Palm and the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Films Festival.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Pakistani director Saim Sadiq is the author of Joyland, the first Pakistani feature film selected in the Un Certain Regard section at the 75th Cannes Film Festival. His short film Darling was the first Pakistani film to be screened at the 76th Venice Film Festival, where it won the Orrizonti Award for Best Short Film. Darling was also screened as an official selection at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival. It was subsequently purchased by Focus Features. His previous short film Nice Talking to You was also acclaimed. It won the BAFTA for Best Graduation Film and the Vimeo Director's Award at the 2018 Columbia University Film Festival. Sadiq recently wrote the pilot for It Never Rains in Cairo for MakeReady, which is being executive produced by Brad Weston and Scott Silver. Currently, he is writing the film adaptation of the best-selling Bittersweet Memories Hotel, which Oscar-nominated Bing Liu is set to direct. Sadiq received his B.A. in Anthropology from Lahore University of Management Sciences and his M.A. in Directing from Columbia University.