Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy announces short film series on Women’s Day

Two times Academy Award winner, filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has always been an advocate of women’s rights. She has not only spoken on the subject on several forums but has also highlighted the issue through her films. The latest initiative in this direction is her upcoming short film series under a new campaign (in collaboration with the Women’s Action Forum, Karachi chapter) called, AAGAHI – Apnay Mustaqbil Ki, on account of Women’s Day.

With an aim to educate women about their rights, the campaign will release a series of short videos (about 2-3 minutes long) in Urdu and other regional languages in the next 12 months. Covering issues such as forced marriage, divorce, domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, acid crimes, cyber-crimes and others, they will inform women about the legislations and give them an overview of how they can make use of their rights according to the law. They’ll also teach women how to file an FIR and go about the entire process of reporting issues that they face.

Sharing the concept behind this campaign, Obaid Chinoy noted in a press statement, “I have travelled the length and breadth of Pakistan and one thing that has always struck me is that we women know very little about the rights that we have in this country. We have little understanding of the court system and how to navigate it and we aren‘t always aware of the ways we can protect ourselves. This is why SOC Films has collaborated with Women’s Action Forum and undertaken the project ‘AAGAHI’ through a series of videos, which we aim to disseminate for free, across Pakistan, we hope to educate women about their rights and how they can assert them.”