Pakistan’s prime minister has ordered a review of the ban on the country’s Oscar entry, the movie “Joyland,” days after the measure was imposed, one of his advisers said. The movie, which features a love story between a married man and a transgender woman, is Pakistan’s entry for next year’s Academy Awards and was a prizewinner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. But the film has caused controversy in Muslim-majority Pakistan and state censors last week banned its showings at movie theaters, reversing a previous all-clear for release. According to a tweet late on Monday from Salman Sufi, an adviser to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, a high-level committee is being set up to assess “Joyland” and review the ban. Transgender people are considered outcasts by many in Pakistan, despite some progress with a law that protects their rights and a landmark Supreme Court ruling designating them as a third gender, “The committee will assess the complaints as well as merits to decide on its release in Pakistan,” Sufi tweeted. He could not immediately be contacted for more details.
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