Haider, the youngest son of a patriarchal Pakistani family, secretly joins a Bollywood-inspired burlesque troupe as a background dancer and soon finds himself falling in love with the troupe's leader, the strong-willed transwoman Biba. With their doomed relationship, the other family members' struggles with traditional family values and gender roles slowly become apparent. Joyland was selected as Pakistan's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar competition, and the film won the Un Certain Regard top prize at the Cannes Film Festival to thunderous applause.