Period. End of a Sentence, the 26-minute documentary set on taboos around menstruation in the Indian society, clinched the ‘Best Short Documentary’ award at the 91st edition of the Academy Awards (The Oscars).
Featuring real life Pad Man Arunachalam Murganantham from Tamil Nadu, this short film beat other nominations like Black Sheep, End Game, A Night at The Garden and Lifeboat.
Guneet Monga, executive producer of the film is overjoyed with this victory and expressed her happiness on Twitter, “We won! To every girl on this earth, know that you are a goddess.”
Period. End of a Sentence depicts the fight of women in India against the deep-rooted stigma associated with menstruation. The film is centred on girls and women in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, with no access to sanitary napkins, which lead to health issues and girls dropping out of schools. The film documents their experience with the installation of a pad machine in their village. It pictures the work of Arunachalam Murganantham who was also the inspiration behind Bollywood movie PadMan, directed by R. Balki in 2018.
Directed by award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi and co-produced by Monga’s Sikhya Entertainment, which has supported films like The Lunchbox and Masaan, the documentary is created by The Pad Project, an organisation established by an inspired group of students at the Oakwood School in Los Angeles, CA, and their mentor Melissa Berton.
“I can’t believe a film about menstruation just won an Oscar. A period should end a sentence, not a girl’s education”, elated Rayka Zehtabchi said while receiving the award.
The 91st Academy Awards were held in Los Angeles on Sunday night (IST 6:30 AM) and was a gala affair attended by who’s who of the motion picture industry.
