Period, End of Sentence has been selected for the Oscars in Documentary Short Subject category. The film is about stigma around menstruation in India, and efforts of the real-life ‘Padman’ Arunachalam Muruganathan.
Guneet Monga, producer of films like The Lunchbox and Masaan, has co-produced this documentary. She announced the news on Instagram and said, “Waking up to this shortlist! So proud and so exciting… I am humbled to be a part of the producing team.”
Monga’s Sikhya Entertainment is the other producer. Monga said in a LiveMint report, “It is a surreal feeling. I feel proud and excited. I would say it is just a great intention being rewarded. I hope we make it to the top five, but even this recognition is great.”
Period, End of Sentence is a 26-minute documentary film directed by Iranian filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi. It is set in Haipur village, near Delhi, and is about the women of the village who find a way to make and use sanitary pads.
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Arunachalam Muruganathan, who had developed a low-cost, easy to operate sanitary pad vending machine brought these machines to the village and trained women to operate them. Women then sold pads to other women of the village, keeping a part of the profit they earned.
The film is on Haipur’s women and Arunachalam’s efforts. It is developed by The Pad Project, an organisation established by an group of students at the Oakwood School in Los Angeles and their teacher, Melissa Berton.
Muruganathan’s story also inspired the Bollywood film Padman. It was directed by R Balki with Akshay Kumar as the lead actor. It released in February this year.
India’s official entry to the Oscar in Foreign Language Film category, Village Rockstars is out of the race. The final nominations will be announced on January 22, 2019. The Academy Award ceremony will happen on February 24.
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