Saving Face, the film that won Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy ’02 an Academy Award for Best Short Documentary, will screen at Smith tomorrow. Through mutual collaboration with the film distributors, EKTA and Obaid’s sister Hadeel Obaid ’12 acquired the rights to screen the film at Smith. EKTA organized the event.

The documentary explores the lives of two women, Zakia and Rukhsana, who were victims of acid attacks that scarred their faces for life.

The film is a journey undertaken to tell the stories of many such women who are brutally attacked in the rural areas of Pakistan. In order to make the voices of these victims heard, Obaid and her co-director were supported by Dr. Mohammad Jawad, a plastic surgeon who returned to his home country to operate on assaulted women; attorney Sarkar Abbass, who fought for Zakia’s case and female politician Marvi Memon, who advocated for new legislation to protect female victims.

The noted film critic, journalist and screenwriter Rodger Ebert said, “This film, which won the 2012 Academy Award for best short documentary, is only 40 minutes long. It has the impact of an epic. Instead of giving us outraged speeches, it takes a realistic, level-headed view of the people involved, and of the surgical process. It follows the efforts of a woman member of Parliament to introduce a bill establishing life sentences for those guilty of acid attacks, and it passes unanimously.”

The first woman in her family to receive a Western education, Obaid majored in government and economics while she was at Smith, and went on to pursue graduate studies in international  policy and communication from Stanford University. She began her career in 2002 with New York Times Television when she produced her first film, Terror’s Children, centered on Afghani refugee children. Smith helped fund her first project and that is how she stepped into the world of documentary filmmaking.

Hadeel Obaid ’12 said her sister’s Academy Award win, the response and support “[were] unbelievable … as a Smithie, as a Pakistani, as her sister. I am proud on every level and it is by far one of the most incredible moments in the history of Smith and Pakistan and definitely for our family.”

 The film has not been officially released, but has already aired on HBO.

Saving Face will screen tomorrow, Friday April 20, in Weinstein auditorium; refreshments will be served at 4 p.m., and the film will begin at 4:30 p.m..