ISLAMABAD: The Censor Board has permitted multiple award-winning films, ‘Joyland’ the all-set for screening of the movie nationwide.
The censor board has removed some scenes and approved the local screening of Joyland. The movie was initially scheduled for a November 18 commercial release in Pakistan. After some religious and social schools of thought protested the film’s release, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif established a cabinet committee to investigate the issue.
Cannes Jury Prize
This Pakistani movie has earned awards all around the world, including the Cannes Jury Prize. The movie is also the nation’s Oscar submission for the next year.
The authorities have now permitted the movie, which shows a romance and love affair between a married man and a transgender woman.
Earlier, this movie premiered at American Film Institute Festival and the Toronto Film Festival, also winning other international awards before it became controversial.
This movie is set in the city of Lahore and debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won awards like the Jury Prize and the Queer Palm.
Malala Yousafzai as Executive Producer
To promote the movie for the upcoming awards, Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize recipient, joined the Joyland team as an executive producer.
Earlier, the Federal Censor Board said in a statement following a screening ban on movies that we received written complaints against the film referring to highly objectionable content, which is against our society’s social fabric and moral values.
Taking to Twitter, Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan of Jummat e Islami (JI) praised the Censor board ban and said that we must adhere to Islamic values and norms in Pakistan.
Shocked by government’s action
Director of the Movie, Saim Sadiq, told Aljazeera that he was shocked by the action taken by the government to ban the screening of ‘Joyland nationwide.
Sadiq said that earlier, the Censor Board issued a clearance certificate and then canceled the certificate, which is creating a very confusing situation. Sadiq also said we would follow democratic, diplomatic, and legal sources to sort out this situation.
Talking to Al Jazeera, Senator Mushtaq Khan said that although he has not watched the movie but informed by “authentic sources” that the film contains objectionable content.
Senator said that according to the information I received through authentic sources, this movie earned awards in categories of transgender and lesbian in Cannes.”
By endorsing a ban on the movie’s screening, Senator said that this means the movie deals with a topic that has no place in an Islamic republic like Pakistan.
