LAHORE: Academy Award winning Pakistani film “Saving Face” has been awarded two prestigious Emmy Awards for Best Documentary and Outstanding Editing: Documentary and Long Form, at the 34th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards. This marks the second Emmy win for the film’s director Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, who previously received the accolade in the Current Affairs category for the documentary “Children of the Taliban”.
The award distribution ceremony of the 34th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards was held on Tuesday, 1st October at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located in the Time Warner Center in New York City.
The film’s Oscar winning directors Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and Daniel Junge along with cameraman Asad Faruqi represented the Saving Face team at the event. Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy chose to wear an ensemble by Sania Maskatiya and a popinjay handbag by Saba Gill at the auspicious occasion. The event was attended by more than 1,000 television and news media industry executives, news and documentary producers and journalists.
Speaking about the Emmy win, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy said, “I would like to dedicate this Award to my late father, the man who served as my mentor and taught me to never take no for an answer, a motto that continues to guide my career today. I would also like to thank the team behind Saving Face for their hard work and continued efforts in raising awareness; I hope the film continues to help bring this issue to the forefront and serves to start dialogue and action.”
“The award recognition is an honor for us filmmakers, we hope that the film continues to reach as many people as possible because spreading awareness and starting the right sorts of conversations has always been the core goal behind the film” said Daniel Junge.
Saving Face had been nominated for five Emmy Awards in total including, Best Documentary, Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming, Outstanding Research, Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary and Long Form and Outstanding Editing: Documentary and Long Form.
The Emmy win is further recognition for Saving Face, a documentary which has already achieved significant acclaim from the international film and arts community through several awards including the eminent Academy Award (Oscar), IDA Documentary Award, Juliane-Bartel Award, Germany, Abu Dhabi Film Festival Audience Choice Award, New York Indian Film Festival “Best Documentary Film” and the SAARC Film Award for “Best Documentary”.
Saving Face chronicles the work of acclaimed British Pakistani plastic surgeon, Dr Mohammad Jawad as he travelled to Pakistan and performed reconstructive surgery on survivors of acid violence.
Acid violence, an extreme form of physical abuse, is systemically underreported in Pakistan; official figures state that 150 cases of acid violence are filed every year, though it is estimated that the actual figure is far greater. Saving Face is an account of such violence told by survivors through their personal journeys of endurance, recovery and reconciliation. The observational documentary was filmed entirely in Pakistan, primarily in the Seraiki belt in addition to Rawalpindi, Karachi and Islamabad.
