Pakistani-Canadian woman wins Oscar for documentary.
by Mehdi Rizvi
"All the women in Pakistan working for change, don't give up on your dreams," said Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. "This is for you," she said, as she and her co-director Daniel Junge accepted the Oscar for best documentary in the short-film category. Saving Face, about acid attacks on women's faces became the first Oscar won by a Pakistani (a Canadian-Pakistani), in that country's sixty-four year history.
Born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, Sharmeen Obaid went on to earn two
News from Pakistan usually involves landmine blasts, terrorists attacks, or sectarian killings. Chinoy's Oscar win caused a wave of happiness and pride through Pakistani communities at home and abroad. Her award, and particularly her acceptance speech at the awards ceremony, has raised the volume on the cries of suppressed women around the world.
Every year, Pakistani police deal with more than 100 women and girls who are disfigured in acid attacks. Many more cases go unreported. Men throw acid in women's faces for reasons like turning down a marriage proposal, or as a way to settle family feuds and property disputes.
Based on the life of a Pakistani woman whose husband burned her face in an acid attack, Saving Face showcases social activists working to overturn this revolting custom. Viewers meet Pakistani-British plastic surgeon Dr Mohammad Jawad, who returned to his homeland and donated his time to heal victims of acid burns, the courageous Pakistani female lawyer who fought the burned woman's case, and the determined female Parliamentarians, who got the Acid Crime Bill passed through the Parliament, under which the victim's husband was sentenced to life imprisonment.
As one victim said of being burned by acid, "It took one second to destroy my life." Permanent disfigurement is a high price to pay for somebody else's personal grudge. But the issue was buried or ignored for generations, until female parliamentarians stood up against the tyranny in Federal Parliament.
"The women who decided to be a part of the documentary, did so because they wanted to make their voices heard, and wanted to bring attention to this form of assault," Obaid told GEO TV (Pakistan), in an interview conducted before she won the Oscar.
A 13-year-old girl in the documentary describes how she was burned after rejecting the advances of her teacher. Another woman featured in the film is 25-year-old Rukhsana, whose husband threw acid on her face. Then her sister-in-law doused her in gasoline, and her mother-in-law lit a match and set her on fire.
"It is a story of hope with a powerful message for the Pakistani audience. I felt this would be a great way to show how Pakistanis can help other Pakistanis overcome their problems," Obaid said.
"The main attraction is that the film is based on true stories, it's not a written script, in fact a portrait of reality," said Javed Jabbar, a veteran Pakistani filmmaker.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has made over a dozen multi-award winning films in more than 10 countries.
Obaid's films have won international acclaim. She has made over a dozen multi-award winning films in more than 10 countries, and is the first non-American to receive a Livingston Award for international reporting. In 2004, she won a Banff TV Rockie Award at the Banff TV festival, for her film Reinventing the Taliban.
Her documentary, Pakistan's Taliban Generation?, won an International Emmy Award in 2010. In addition, her films have won The Overseas Press Club Award, The American Women in Radio and TV Award, The Cine Eagle golden Award and the Banff Rockie Award.
Pakistan is a beautiful country located at the foothills of Himalayas, which has always been a corridor for northwestern invaders to reach culturally and minerally rich India. The most recent adventure, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, siphoned religious extremism into Pakistan and badly influenced our culture.
Sherman Obaid-Chinoy closely observed the cultural and ideological intrusion and was inspired by her natural talent to write, direct and produce films based on the great tragedy of cultural evils and religious fanaticism. Socially sensitive and painful issues feature prominently in her work, bringing them to open discussion, drawing the world's attention to the miserable state of the suppressed segments of society. She tries to find respectable solutions to the tragedies faced by the victims of social injustice, military adventures and religious madness.
Like many educated and skilled immigrants, Obaid came to Canada, not to earn money but to learn and polish the skills she had already attained. She has fully benefited from western education. Her contributions are not limited to any particular culture or country but they are for a universal noble cause.
About Pakistani society she says, "With self respect and cooperation we can resolve all issues. I have always worked on issues no body notices. I want to highlight those issues and we can't make progress unless we discuss our challenges and resolve them."
As she told the BBC in an interview, "I want to build an academy for the new generation as a teacher and as a guide to them. I moved from print media to film making in an attempt to make my voice more vocal and visual — to let the world know we [Pakistanis] are a civilized and cultured nation, and know how to move forward in a competitive world."
About Mehdi Rizvi
Mehdi Rizvi is a former member of the Community Editorial Board, Toronto Star and an affiliate of the Center of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, which is a consortium of three Toronto universities. He is a chemist who has worked in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, cement and UV printing products for the last 35 years.
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