Oscar comes home: Golden lady returns with the golden statuette

KARACHI: 

Pakistanis got their first glimpse of the most celebrated accolade in filmmaking on Saturday.

The much-awaited Oscar finally arrived in Pakistan along with its proud recipient Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

Her documentary, Saving Face, grabbed the trophy for ‘Best Short Documentary’ at the 84th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California last month.

A press conference was organised at a local hotel to welcome the Oscar winner.

Obaid-Chinoy walked into the premises with the statuette in her hand, and was swamped by photographers as she placed it in a glass box on stage.

“I hope that it is not the only time we bring an Oscar home” said a jubilant Obaid-Chinoy.

“When I walked the red carpet along with four other people, it was not just the five of us; I knew that the whole country was standing for us,” she said.  As the categories were being announced, Obaid-Chinoy said she was not very hopeful until Iran won an award as well.

“That was the moment when I got a little optimistic that we might win the award based on the quality of the film,” she recalled.

She also praised co-director Daniel Junge for his efforts, saying that she was thankful to him for letting her give a major part of the victory speech.

After receiving the award, she said she took what is called the ‘winner’s walk’, where award recipients enter a room full of journalists and photographers waiting to greet them.

“All I remember from the winner’s walk are flashes of lights and nothing else,” she said.

“A lot of well-known people from Hollywood lauded me for making it so real and Cameron Diaz was one of them,” she added. A clip from the documentary was screened at the reception where Marvi Memon, former member of the National Assembly, was shown hearing the plea of the acid burn victims.

Afterwards, she initiated a bill in the National Assembly in favour of the acid burn victims, which was unanimously accepted by the assembly.

“The part in which the bill is unanimously passed received a special applause wherever it was screened around the world,” said Obaid-Chinoy.

Elaborating over the subject matter of the documentary further, she said that “Pakistan can solve its problems and that was the thought behind the documentary.

“Acid throwing is a horrible crime, which can be ended if the people and government work together and implement the laws that were created,” Obaid-Chinoy stressed. She concluded by thanking the media, the people of Pakistan, her crew and family members for supporting her throughout.

Film review: Saving face - on the face of it

Ever since Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy won the Oscar, I’ve seen comments all over the internet that give the impression that this documentary shows only the darker side of Pakistan.  However, having actually seen the documentary I would like to clear this misunderstanding.

I had the good fortune of watching it, along with other Oscar-nominated works, at the  National Archives in Washington DC on the morning of 26 February, the day before the Oscar winners were announced. While they were all excellent, Saving Face was definitely the best amongst them. Even though it was the longest one, the audience was riveted until the last moment.

Saving Face begins with Sharmeen interviewing Zakia, a victim of an acid attack. Zakia, who had filed for divorce, was attacked by her husband outside the court room after the hearing. Half her face, including one eye, was destroyed.

We are also introduced to Rukhsana, who was attacked with acid by her in-laws. Tired of mistreatment by her husband and his family, she takes her children and moves in with her parents. Soon, financial problems force her to return to her husband and ask forgiveness, a decision that has terrible consequences. In a harrowing scene, Rukhsana shows us the room in which she was attacked with acid by her mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Then there is  Dr Jawad, a plastic surgeon in the UK who travels to Pakistan to treat the victims of acid attack at the Burns Centre in Islamabad. He meets Zakia first and is deeply moved by her story, trying very hard to save Zakia’s eye along with her face. Sadly, the optical surgeons tell him there is no chance of success. Nor does her legal struggle seem to bear fruit: Zakia attends every hearing of the case against her husband but the final hearing keeps getting postponed.

On the other hand, Rukhsana, who is waiting desperately for the surgery to restore her face, cannot undergo the operation because the initial tests reveal that she is pregnant. In a particularly moving scene, Rukhsana hopes the child will be a boy because she is afraid that a girl would face the same difficulties as her.

But there is also hope amid the despair. Zakia’s case is taken up pro bono by a female lawyer, and eventually, both women succeed in gaining the attention of various NGOs. They meet Marvi Memon and push for punitive legislation against acid attacks. Memon, moved by their pleas, proposes a bill in calling for life imprisonment for acid attackers

Near the end, a successful surgery gives Zakia her face back, and the optical surgeon designs an artificial eye for her. Rukshana gives birth to a baby boy and is successfully treated by Dr Jawad afterwards. The bill is unanimously passed in the assembly. In the end comes the happiest moment of all, as the court sentences Zakia’s husband to double life imprisonment terms.

Far from being a biased indictment of Pakistan, Saving Face shows women in Pakistan are moving ahead and fighting for justice in a male-dominated society. It also shows how, contrary to popular opinion, the courts do sometimes dispense justice. Another great aspect of Saving Face is that it brings to light the philanthropist mindset of our society, where individuals feel the need to give something back to their country. Eloquently summing it up is the closing quote from Dr Jawad: “I was not saving their faces; I was saving my own face as I am also a part of this cruel society.”

Correction: An earlier version of the article misspelt the word “successful”. It has been corrected.

پاکسانی فلم میکر شرمین نے آسکر ایوارڈ جیت لیا

لاس اینجلس ۔ پاکستانی دستاویزی فلم ’’سیونگ فیس‘‘ نے پہلی مرتبہ آسکر ایوارڈ حاصل کرلیا، امریکی ریاست کیلی فورنیا کے شہر لاس اینجلس کے مقامی ہالی ووڈ پر سجنے والے چوراسیویں آسکرایوارڈ زکی تقریب میں نامزد ہونے والی شرمین عبید چنائے کی مختصر دورانیے کی دستاویزی فلم ’’سیونگ فیس‘‘ کو آسکر ایوارڈ سے نواز دیا گیا،فلم کی کہانی ان خواتین کے گرد گھومتی ہے جن پر تیزاب پھینکا جاتا ہے اور اس کے بعد وہ کن کن مسائل سے دو چار ہوتی ہیں۔

فلم میں مرکزی کردار دو تیزاب سے متاثرہ خواتین ذکیہ اور رخسانہ کا ہے، فلم کی ہدایتکارہ شرمین عبید چنائے کا کہنا ہے کہ وہ پاکستان کے لئے پہلا آسکر ایوارڈ حاصل کرنے پر نہایت خوش ہیں اور وہ یہ ایوارڈ فلم کے کرداروں اور پاکستان کی دکھی خواتین کے نام کرتی ہیں۔انہوں نے کہا کہ خواتین کو اپنے خواب ترک نہیں کرنا چاہیں، بلکہ ان کے حصول کے لئے جدوجہد جاری رکھنا چاہئے، واضح رہے کہ شرمین اس سے قبل ایمی ایوارڈ ، برطانیہ میں براڈ کاسٹ جرنلسٹ ایوارڈ، اوور سیز پریس کلب ایوارڈ ،امریکن ریڈیو ، ٹیلی ویژن ایوارڈ اور گولڈن ایگل ایوارڈ حاصل کرچکی ہیں۔ وزیراعظم یوسف رضا گیلانی نے آسکر ایوارڈ جیتنے پر شرمین عبید چنائے کو دلی مبارکباد کا پیغام دیا ہے۔

وزیراعظم گیلانی نے اپنے پیغام میں کہا ہے کہ شرمین عبید اور ان کی دستاویزی فلم’’ فیس سیونگ‘‘ نے پاکستان کے لئے اعزاز حاصل کیا ہے۔ ملکی تاریخ میں پہلی بار یہ ایوارڈ قوم کیلئے باعث فخر ہے، اس ایوارڈ سے پاکستان کا سافٹ امیج بھی نمایاں ہو گا، دریں اثناء شرمین عبید کی والدہ صباء حمید نے میڈیا سے گفتگو کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ ان کی بیٹی شرمین عبید اور ان کی دستاویزی فلم کے آسکر ایوارڈ حاصل ہونے پر انہیں فخر ہے انہوں نے کہا کہ یہ اعزاز ہمارے ملک و قوم کے لئے باعث فخر ہے۔

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s documentary wins Oscar for ‘Best Documentary, Short Subject’

Pakistani journalist and documentarian Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s latest venture Saving Face has won an Oscar award under the category ‘Best Documentary, Short Subject’.

In her acceptance speech, Chinoy dedicated the award to “all the heroes working on the ground in Pakistan” including British Pakistani plastic surgeon Dr Mohammad Jawad, main subjects of the documentary and the women of Pakistan.

“All the women in Pakistan working for change, don’t give up on your dreams, this is for you,” she said.

Dedicating the award to main subjects Rukhsana and Zakia, Obaid-Chinoy said that their “resilience and bravery in the face of such adversary is admirable”.

Co-director Daniel Junge said he had the idea for the film after hearing about Jawad, and asked Chinoy to work with him. He has been previously nominated for an both an Oscar and an Emmy.

“To win … and with such a subject – it’s such an honour,” he said.

The documentary Saving Face chronicles the work of Dr Jawad, who performed reconstructive surgery on survivors of acid attacks in Pakistan.

The documentary, which is filmed across Islamabad, Rawalpindi and the small towns of Punjab, was released in the US in November. It is due to release in the UK in March 2012, following which it will be released in Pakistan.

“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,” Chinoy said in an interview conducted before she won the Oscar.

“The main reason that they are in Saving Face is to make their stories heard and have an impact.” Many victims are women attacked by their husbands, and others assaulted for turning down a proposal of marriage. One girl in the documentary describes how she was burned after rejecting the advances of her teacher. She was 13 at the time.

Another woman featured in the film is 25-year-old Rukhsana, whose husband threw acid on her and her sister-in-law doused her in gasoline before her mother-in-law lit a match and set her on fire.

Chinoy said she hopes the cases in her film will resonate for others in Pakistan.

“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,” she said.

Chinoy’s films have won international acclaim. Her 2010 documentary, Pakistan’s Taliban Generation, won an International Emmy Award.

At the ceremony, Obaid-Chinoy chose to wear female designers, from her clothes and her jewellery.

“I am wearing Bunto Kazmi for the ceremony and will be wearing Sana Safinaz and Saniya Maskatiya for Oscar-related events. My jewellery will be done by Kiran Aman of Kiran Fine Jewellery and Sherezad Rahimtoola of Labels. I am really excited to showcase local Pakistani talent, and that too all women,” revealed Chinoy.