Iranian-American filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi’s documentary, ‘Period. End of Sentence’ based on menstrual health, set in India made the Academy Awards shortlist in the Documentary Short Subject category.
Iranian-American filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi’s ‘Period. End of Sentence’ is now in the running for an Academy Award in the Documentary Short Subject category. The film is set in a village near the Indian capital city of Delhi and narrates the tale of the rural women struggling with awareness about menstrual health.
The film is a partnership between director Rayka Zehtabchi and Indian film producer Guneet Monga, who has previously produced the critically-acclaimed Indian feature film, ‘The Lunchbox’. The film unravels the experiences of a group of women living in a village where Arunachalam Muruganantham’s sanitary pad machine has been installed. The Indian visionary, who invented low-cost sanitary napkins for rural India (now famous across the globe), was played by Hindi-film actor, Akshay Kumar in a recent feature film called ‘Padman’.
William Salazar’s Bird Karma, which has been shortlisted for the Best Animated Short Film category also has a peculiar Indian characteristic. The five-minute short film has Indian classical music playing in the backdrop as the viewers explore the journey of a bird chasing a golden-red fish. The film will be competing against ten others shortlisted in the category.
Best Foreign Language Film category, includes fresh stories like Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Japanese drama film, ‘Shoplifters’ and Alfonso Cuaron’s ‘Roma’ set in Mexico. The category comprises five nominees.
The final list of Oscar nominees is to be announced next month. The Academy Awards will be held on February 24, 2019.
