Pakistan’s first Oscar winner launched a campaign on Tuesday, hoping that her documentary about survivors of acid attacks can help eliminate a crime that disfigures hundreds of women each year.
Pictures of 33-year-old Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy collecting her award in the short documentary category were splashed across newspapers as editors fell over themselves to praise the young woman.
Her film Saving Face follows victims as they struggle to recover and bring their attackers to justice, and shows the work of British Pakistani plastic surgeon Mohammad Jawad, who helps restore their faces and lives.
Acid attacks are among the worst forms of domestic violence in Pakistan and mostly directed at women, who are too often classified as second-class citizens. Victims are disfigured for life and ostracised by society.
The team behind the documentary are using their website to launch a campaign raising awareness about the attacks, inflicted on around 200 women each year in Pakistan, and to strengthen legislation against the violence.
“The film must be more than an expose of horrendous crimes, it must be a recipe for addressing the problem and a hope for the future,” co-director Daniel Junge said.
Pakistan’s parliament last year adopted tougher penalties for the crime, increasing the punishment to between 14 years and life, and a minimum fine of one million rupees (Dh40,400). The new law came into effect on December 28.
Obaid-Chinoy’s mother, Saba, told AFP that the campaign was launched formally after her daughter won the Oscar, which had “provided her with a unique opportunity and strength to strive for her goal more effectively”.
“The campaign is mainly aimed at making our society more humane and better to live. It is to help and remedy those who are victims of such brutality and injustice,” she said.
The website said the film was “uniquely positioned to advance awareness, education and prevention efforts”.