The film, based on the underprivileged transgender community in Pakistan, tops four other international nominations in the Best Picture category.

'Joyland' Wins Best International Film award

After winning several awards, the world famous Pakistani film Joyland has achieved another success when it won the Best International Film Award at the Independent Spirit Awards 2023.


In the award category, the film exploring transgender issues in Pakistan beat Marie Kreutzer's Corsage, Martica Ramirez Escobar's Leonor Never Dies, Davy Choo's Return to Seoul and Alice Diop's Saint Omar.

Directed by Saim Sadiq, the film became a worldwide hit for Pakistan with a transgender woman in the lead role.


It focuses on unbiased reporting on the lives and struggles of transgender people.


In addition to winning several awards, Joyland made history last year by winning the Jury Prize for Most Interesting in the Un Certain Regard competition at the 75th Cannes Film Festival in France.


It was the first Pakistani film to be nominated at Cannes and beat 13 other films that were screened at the festival.


This film is also in contention for Oscar from Pakistan.


Joyland was released worldwide but was banned by Pakistan's censor board due to "highly objectionable material". These restrictions gave the film strong criticism and support, and after several edits and approval by the censor board, the film was released nationwide.


The Independent Spirit Award is an award dedicated to independent filmmakers.

Independent Spirit Award