Proud moment: Saim Sadiq’s ‘Joyland’ becomes first Pakistani feature to be selected for Cannes

Another artistic milestone unlocked for Pakistan! On Thursday, Cannes Film Festival took to their official Twitter handle to announce that Joyland, a feature film by Pakistani filmmaker Saim Sadiq is selected to be screened at the 75th anniversary of the prestigious annual film festival. The category for feature films only takes in a limited number of 14 films and it is a moment of incredible pride that a Pakistani film made the cut—that too for the first time in history!

Actor Sana Jafri, who’s starring in the feature film alongside actor Ali Junejo, took to Instagram with a screenshot from Cannes official website that displayed their film’s name in the category Uncertain Regard. Talking about making history, she wrote, “Yeah guys, this is real. It has happened, history has been created again. [This is] the first Pakistani feature film at Festival De Cannes!”

As soon as the news got out, actors and directors from our entertainment industry took to their social media to praise the team behind the short film. Mahira Khan retweeted the announcement and wrote, “This is amazing! Congratulations to the entire team. And to Pakistan!”

Osman Khalid Butt also reshared the big “fantastic” news and wrote, “This is FANTASTIC. What a huge moment for Pakistani cinema. Congratulations, Saim and the entire team of Joyland!”

Adnan Malik had a rather joyous morning, thanks to Saim Sadiq’s talent. He shared the news on his Instagram story and wrote, “This is some incredible news to wake up to. Congratulations Saim Sadiq and team.”