The Pakistani movie Joyland has made headlines around the world for its ground-breaking depiction of a love story between a married cisgender man and a transgender woman in the city of Lahore. (Cisgender refers to a person whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth.)
It was initially banned in Pakistan after "a campaign accusing the film of inappropriate content," as NPR has reported. But the ban was reversed in much of the country. The movie won multiple prizes at the Cannes Film Festival and was Pakistan's submission for this past March's Academy Awards (although it didn't earn a nomination). Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai signed on as an executive producer. Joyland opened in U.S. theaters in April.
