Malala Yousufzai seems to be quite fond of entertainment industry of late, and it was recently learned that she has joined the team of the Pakistani Oscar-nominated short film, Joyland, as an executive producer.
Malala Yousufzai told Variety how she feels about joining the iconic queer movie saying, “Incredibly proud to support a film that proves Pakistani artists are among the best in global cinema”.
She added
Joyland invites us to open our eyes to the people closest to us — to see our family members and friends as they are, not colored by our own expectations or societal bias.
Pakistan’s Oscar Selection Committee selected Joyland as its submission for the 95th Academy Awards in the International Feature Film Award category last month.
Written and directed by Saim Sadiq, and produced by Apoorva Guru Charan, Sarmad Sultan Khoosat, and Lauren Mann, Joyland features Ali Junejo, Rasti Farooq, Alina Khan, Sarwat Gillani, Salman Peerzada, Sohail Sameer, and Sania Saeed.
The Saim Sadiq directorial is a befitting pick, granted its success at Cannes and following global acclaim. The film won the Queer Palm award for best LGBTQ or feminist film at Cannes in May. In addition to winning the Jury Prize in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ category, the film was the first Pakistani entry at the festival.
This story tells the tale of the youngest son in a patriarchal family who is expected to have a baby boy with his wife. He, instead, joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for the troupe’s director, a trans woman.
Malala Yousafzai has signed a deal for three films with Apple Inc, and remarked,
What I hope to bring to the table are the voices of women of color, and debut writers and Muslim directors and writers.
The Nobel prize winner continued, “I hope we can have a wide range of perspectives and that we challenge some of the stereotypes we hold in our societies. And I also hope that the content is entertaining and that people fall in love with the characters and have the best time together”.
