Sharmeen bags nomination, India out of Oscars race

PM Sharif congratulates film-maker, ceremony on Feb 28

Film-maker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has bagged yet another Oscar nomination while all Indian entries have been ruled out of the race.

Her documentary A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness has been nominated in the short subject category of best documentary for the 88th Academy Awards.

The announcement was made on Thursday evening by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. The prestigious ceremony is due to take place on February 28, 2016.



Sharmeen has previously won an Oscar for her documentary Saving Face at the 84th Annual Academy Awards in 2012, bringing home Pakistan’s first Academy Award. She is one of only eleven female directors who have ever won an Oscar for a non-fiction film.

The film follows the story of an eighteen-year-old girl, a rare survivor of an honour killing attempt, who falls in love and lives to tell the tale.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif congratulated her for the nomination. According to a statement issued by the PM office, he expressed the government’s commitment to rid Pakistan of the evil of honour killings by implementing appropriate legislation.



On the other hand, regional Indian films Court, Jalam, RangiTaranga and Nachom-ia Kumpasar that were vying for a spot in different categories of the awards couldn’t make the cut this year, reported IANS.

India has never won an Oscar, even though Mother India, Salaam Bombay! and Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India were nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category in different years.



Though none of the Indian films could make it to the list, Indian-American Pixar artist and director Sanjay Patel’s animated short film Sanjay’s Super Team managed to get nominated in the Best Animated Short Film category.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2016.

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