Malala Yousafzai, who heads her own film and TV production company, Extracurricular Productions, is joining “Joyland,” Pakistan’s Oscar submission in the international feature category, as an executive producer. The film had its world premiere at Cannes earlier this year where it won the jury prize at the festival’s Un Certain Regard strand. It subsequently had its North American premiere at Toronto. It is currently playing at both the BFI London Film Festival, where it is competing for the Sutherland Award, which recognizes the most original and imaginative directorial debut, and the Busan International Film Festival, where it is in the A Window on Asian Cinema strand.

Yousafzai said: “I am incredibly proud to support a film that proves Pakistani artists are among the best in global cinema. ‘Joyland’ invites us to open our eyes to the people closest to us — to see our family members and friends as they are, not colored by our own expectations or societal bias.”

Yousafzai is one of the creative leaders honored for Variety’s 2022 Power of Women presented by Lifetime. In 2021, Yousafzai struck a multiyear programming pact with Apple TV+ through Extracurricular. Written and directed by Saim Sadiq and produced by Apoorva Guru Charan, Sarmad Sultan Khoosat, and Lauren Mann, “Joyland” stars Ali Junejo, Rasti Farooq, Alina Khan, Sarwat Gilani, Sohail Sameer, Salman Peerzada and Sania Saeed.

‍

‍

READ FULL TEXT