Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s documentary lands coveted Oscar nomination

Obaid-Chinoy’s documentary is the story of victims of acid violence.

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

Saving Face is the story of two women from Southern Punjab who are victims of acid violence.

“It is a positive story about Pakistan on two accounts: firstly, it portrays how a Pakistani-British doctor comes to treat them and it also discusses, in great depth, the parliament’s decision to pass a bill on acid violence,” Obaid-Chinoy had said when her film was short-listed for nominations in October 2011. According to the Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill, the perpetrators of acid violence will be punished with imprisonment for life and Obaid-Chinoy has captured that aspect in her latest venture.

Obaid-Chinoy received the Emmy award for her documentary Pakistan: Children of the Taliban in 2010.

The documentary, which is filmed across Islamabad, Rawalpindi and the small towns of Punjab, 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.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2012.