Saim Sadiq
Saim Sadiq is a Pakistani director who won the Jury Prize of the Un Certain Regard section at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival for directing feature film Joyland, the first Pakistani film to be selected in Cannes.
Sadiq also became the first Pakistani award winner at APSA, with the announcement of the 2022 Young Cinema Award.
In 2019 he won the Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film for Darling (Gulaab), the first Pakistani film to win in this category. The short film was a thematically similar proof of concept for a feature film of the same name, which had been accepted at the Open Doors Hub at the Locarno Film Festival 2018.
With a background in anthropology, Saim’s earlier documentary work was showcased by various national networks on television, went viral on social media in Pakistan, and was featured by BBC’s Free Speech Stories. His first short film Pasban (’17) screened at numerous festivals around the globe. His latest short Nice Talking to You (’18) was awarded Vimeo’s Best Director along with five other awards at the 2018 Columbia University thesis film showcase. He is the recipient of the Kodak Student Scholarship Gold Award 2018, selected as the top winner from students across the world.
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