“This week the Pakistani Prime Minister has said that he will change the law on honor killing after watching this film”.
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The 2016 Academy Awards are now just hours away with stars from around the world waiting to take a stroll up the red carpet into the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, with some of them, including Pakistan’s Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, hoping to leave with a coveted Oscar statuette in hand.
Sharmeen won the award for the category Best Documentary – Short Subject for her documentary A Girl in the River, which follows the life of an 18-year-old girl who is a survivor of an honour killing attempt. Sharmeen Chinoy’s work that grabs this year’s Oscar highlights the issue of honour killings in Pakistan.
At the last moment, she tilted her head, meaning the bullet grazed her cheek instead of shattering her skull.
In the weeks leading up to the Oscars, Obaid-Chinoy said she was grateful to see her nomination spark discussion around religiously motivated murders. She somehow escaped-and lived on to tell her story.
Saba survived, and set out to ensure that her attackers were brought to justice.
Sharmeen, who read about her ordeal one morning in the newspaper, tracked her down and filmed Saba’s story over eight to nine months in 2014.
Saba initially seeks a conviction, but eventually relents under the weight of pressure from her brother-in-law and community elders who say it is better to resolve enmity than let it fester.
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For the 88th Academy Award ceremony, Pakistan’s leading fashion label, Sana Safinaz have created a bespoke ensemble for Obaid-Chinoy, complemented by custom jewellery exclusively designed for Sharmeen for the occasion by Kiran Fine Jewellery. The practice is particularly common in Pakistan, where hundreds of women reportedly die every year as a result of the practice.
