Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has won the second Oscar in her career at the star studded Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California this past Sunday.
Her film A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness won in the category of best short documentary.
The film examines the case of an 18-year-old Pakistani girl who survived a brutal attack by her father and uncle bent on “honour killing.”
A Girl in the River is the latest in a series of socially charged investigative films from Obaid-Chinoy’s Karachi-based film company SOC Film. The film is set to air on HBO Canada on March 7.
“This week, the Pakistani prime minister has said that he would change the law on honour killing after watching this film. That is the power of film,” said the 37-year-old director on stage, after recieveing the award.
A triumphant Obaid-Chinoy said she was grateful to see the Oscar nomination sparked discussion around religiously motivated murders.
“I think that’s a win in itself because it’s such a difficult topic and people shy away from it, normally,” said Obaid-Chinoy, a dual citizen who lived in Toronto from 2004 to 2015.
Her competition included Toronto-based journalist Adam Benzine, up for his short film Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah.
In the year 2012, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy made Pakistan proud after her documentary Saving Face was awarded the Best Documentary Short Subject at the Oscars.
