- Joyland won the best international film award at Spirit Awards.
- Saim Sadiq-directed film gained another trophy.
- In his award speech, he thanked every cast member of the film.
The Spirit Awards 2023’s Best International film went to “Joyland“!
Joyland’s trip to the Oscars may have come to an end, but the Saim Sadiq-directed film gained another trophy to its impressive collection of honours at the 38th Independent Spirit Awards. As noted, the picture which has been hampered by controversy at home managed to overcome four other nominees including Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, Martika Ramirez Escobar’s Leonor Will Never Die, Davy Chou’s Return to Seoul and Alice Diop’s Saint-Omer.
Saim Sadiq said, “They did send us an email saying you should prepare a speech and I archived it and I didn’t take it seriously at all. Now I’m ashamed because I have so many things to say and so many people to thank and I’m just scared that I’ll forget someone,” in his award-winning speech thanking everyone from producers Riz Ahmed, Malala, and Apoorva Guru Charan to his crew, and cast. He exclaimed that he wouldn’t have come this far without them.
He further said, “Thank you really because to support a film that comes from Pakistan that’s in Urdu and Punjabi and talks about the things that this film talks about, it’s not an easy decision to make.”
He added, “It was easier for me to say I want to make this film but perhaps pretty hard for them to say they want to put their mind behind it so I think they deserve so much credit for it.”
He concluded the speech by saying, “[I want to thank] the three people who really really made this film. Alina Khan, Ali Junejo and Rasti Farooq, this one would not be possible without you. Thank you so much. I hope your future is so so bright.”
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