Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy Highlights Her Impact at Academy’s Women Initiative

Films are empowering.

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy was the keynote speaker at the inaugural Women’s Initiative luncheon hosted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in New York.

While addressing over 175 Academy Members in attendence, Sharmeen Obaid spoke about her influence as a filmmaker and focus on the power of film to transform the way women see themselves.

The 3 Bahadur director used the platform to talk about her mobile cinema initiative, ‘Dekh Magar Pyaar Se‘. Sharmeen launched ‘Dekh Magar Pyaar Se‘ in 2017 and as a part of this initiative travelled across 300 locations screening films in small towns and villages educating women about their rights. The purpose is educating through film.


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Sharmeen also spoke about her role as a journalist which began at the age of 14. Her journey as a journalist made her a self-taught filmmaker who made her first documentary film at the age of 21.

She also spoke about the impact of her activism on Pakistan’s legislation, as her second Oscar win for A Girl in the River lead to government to pass legislation preventing pardoning of a murderer in an honor killing.

Sharmeen also talked about her focus on animation to create a new generation of heroes for children in Pakistan like the animated 3 Bahadur franchise.


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She highligted her latest animated film SITARA: LET GIRLS DREAM and its message for young girls to dream big and to parents to invest in those dreams.

“I see every single day that young women are changing the way they see themselves, … and film is empowering them to do that.”

 

Women’s Initiative Attendees

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
Sharmeen Obaid at the Academy’s ‘Women Initiative’

The two-time Academy award winning directot joined the likes of actors Laura Dern, Constance Wu, Cynthia Erivo and Meg Ryan. Others from New York’s filmmaking community included producers such as Ghostbusters and Spider-Man maker Amy Pascal, Christine Vachon and Jane Rosenthal the woman currently working on Scorsese’s The Irishman.

Other attendees at the Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room included documentarians Barbara Kopple and Laura Poitras, Honey Boy director Alma Har’el and Lady Bird actress director Greta Gerwig.