Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy’s Oscar winning documentary, A Girl in The River: The Price of Forgiveness, was screened at the UN headquarters in New York on March 15th.
The screening took place during the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) held in the UN to discuss women empowerment and the practice of honour killings.
The filled-to-capacity screening was attended by many influential women, including politician Khushbakht Shujaat, Women’s rights activist Yasmeen Hassan, and most importantly the Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Dr Maleeha Lodhi took the opportunity at the occasion to introduce Raheela Durrani as the country’s first female Speaker of the Balochistan Assembly.
Khushbakht Shujaat and Raheela Durrani were part of the delegation that represented Pakistan at the CSW meetings.
The screening was followed by a discussion panel, which was initiated by Yasmeen Hassan, and attracted an audience from across the globe. Members of the Pakistan delegation, currently in New York to represent the country at CSW meetings, were also present.
Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo stressed the fact that honour killings are an issue for the whole of society, and not just a minority.
Although, the Oscar winner wasn’t present at the screening, she was glad the event went well.
A Girl in the River has been screening all over the world since it bagged the Academy Award, and Sharmeen Obaid has announced on Facebookthat screenings of her short film will begin at multiple venues in Pakistan, and “and an air date for television broadcast is being finalized.”
A Girl in the River was recently shown at Habib University in Karachi, as one of the first few institutions to have had a screening.
The event was organized by Pakistan’s Mission to the UN and co sponsored by UN Women in conjunction with Equality Now.
