Repressed homosexuality, suffocating patriarchy, established transgender people: “Joyland”, in theaters on Wednesday, sweeps away the clichés regarding Pakistani society, which earned it the wrath of censorship in the country, before finally being authorized.
The film, which won the “Queer Palm”, LGBT + award, in May at the Cannes Film Festival and which will represent Pakistan at the next Oscars, had seen its release prevented for a time, following protests from Islamist groups.
Transgender people “do not live as freely (as they) would, for example, in France, but their way of life is far from what we imagine in the West when we think + Muslim world +”, described director Saim in Cannes. Sadiq, of which this is the first feature film.
Pakistan “is very schizophrenic, almost bipolar, in that you have, of course, some violence towards a particular community (transgender people) on one side, but also this very progressive law, passed in 2018, which authorizes everyone to identify by their gender, including a third gender”, underlined the filmmaker.
Although their rights are a priori protected by law, most transgender people in Pakistan are forced to live on the margins of society, often having to beg, dance at weddings or engage in prostitution in order to survive.
In 2009, Pakistan was among the first in the world to legally recognize a third gender. Then in 2018, it passed a law granting transgender people the right to self-determine their gender on all official documents and even opt for a mix of the two.
But these advances and all attempts to further protect the rights of transgender people in Pakistan have been fiercely resisted by Islamist parties who denounce the intrusion of Western values.
– Infernal Gear –
“Joyland” tells the story of Haider (Ali Junejo), youngest son of a family unit of two couples who live under the same roof and under the authority of the patriarch.
His wife works, he doesn’t, they don’t have any children yet and we feel that he is disappointing his father, an old clan chief, by not adopting the virile contours in force.
Height of the situation, when he finally finds a job, it is as a dancer in a cabaret whose stars are transgender artists. And now he falls under the spell of one of them, Biba, nicknamed “Madame”, ambitious and colorful magazine leader.
She is played by Alina Khan, who responded to an ad from the director for her short film “Darling” (2019). In Cannes, where she caused a sensation, she said she was proud to “represent the trans community which does not always have such a great opportunity in Pakistan”. “The message I want to send to the world is that the trans community should be able to do whatever they want like anyone else.”
The film also tackles patriarchal values, with the character of Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq), Haider’s wife, being asked to quit her job and stay home to help her sister-in-law who has four children. An infernal gear.
Mumtaz withers like an insect stuck in a jar when “Madame” flutters under the lights of the cabaret where she performs, trying behind the scenes to create a life as a couple.
“Women fight once morest their domestication and, for women, trans it’s practically the opposite, they fight for a place in their homes. They fight to stay in their family, not to end up on the street “, developed the director in Cannes.
