ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Saim Sadiq’s feature debut, “Joyland,” the first Pakistani film to be selected in Cannes, on Friday won two prizes at the 2022 film festival.

The film, which celebrates ‘transgender culture’ in Pakistan and tells the story of a family torn between modernity and tradition in contemporary Lahore, won the Cannes “Queer Palm” prize for best feminist-themed movie as well as the Jury Prize in the “Un Certain Regard” competition, a segment focusing on young, innovative cinema talent.

“Joyland” beat off several other strong entries, including “Close” by Belgian director Lukas Dhont and “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” by Kirill Serebrennikov, both hot contenders for the Cannes Festival’s top Palme d’Or award which will be announced on Saturday.

“It’s a very powerful film, that represents everything that we stand for,” Catherine Corsini, French director and the “Queer Palm” jury head, told AFP.

“’Joyland’ will echo across the world. It has strong characters who are both complex and real. Nothing is distorted. We were blown away by this film.”

The first-ever Pakistani competitive entry left Cannes audiences slack-jawed and admiring, and got a nearly 10-minute-long standing ovation from the opening night’s crowd.

Part of the surprise came from the discovery by many that Pakistan is one the first nations to have given legal protection against discrimination of transgender people.

In 2018, Pakistan passed a landmark transgender rights bill that provides the country’s trans citizens with fundamental rights including prohibiting discrimination and harassment against them educationally and socially, allowing them to obtain driving licenses and passports and to change their gender in the national database at their own discretion.

“Pakistan is very schizophrenic, almost bipolar,” Sadiq, who drew inspiration from his own family and a theater close to his Lahore home, told AFP in an interview.

“You get, of course, prejudice and some violence against a particular community on the one hand, but you also get this very progressive law which basically allows everyone to identify their own gender, and also identifies a third gender,” he said.