Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is all about representation and change. When she won an Academy Award in 2016 for her documentary short “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” she was the o…
is all about representation and change. When she won an Academy Award in 2016 for her documentary short “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” she was the only female director to be honored that night. Two years prior to that, she became the first director from Pakistan to win an Oscar.
“I’ve always wanted to tell this story without any dialogue. I’ve always wanted the music and expressions to drive the story,” Obaid-Chinoy says. Laura Karpman’s powerful score drives the narrative of Pari and her young sister through whose eyes the story is told. Pari’s young brother, Mehr, is the audience, unaware of the rites of passage and centuries of tradition that prevent women from following their dreams.
Perseverance and passion made the animation team see “Sitara: Let Girls Dream” through to the end. “We don’t have animation schools or universities in Pakistan. And I’m a storyteller. I’m not an animator.” The team went from flying blind and watching YouTube tutorials to consultants from Pixar flying in to help guide their animation process. “It was trial and error,” Obaid-Chinoy says of the filmmaking process. “We created this ourselves, and this is our contribution to the world of animation.
Obaid-Chinoy reached out to Gucci’s Chime For Change, who have supported it with their impact campaign and helped show the film in over 100 high schools in America. It’s also been shown around the world and in Pakistan where young daughters are still sent off to be married for a dowry. “Everywhere we take the film, there’s an important conversation to be had about why we aren’t investing in the dreams of young girls.
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