India shines at Oscars, 'Period. End of Sentence' wins Documentary Short Subject
The Short Film is based on Menstruation
Los Angeles, Feb 25: A film on menstruation, set in rural India, titled Period. End of Sentence, has won the Oscar in the Documentary Short Subject category at the 91st Academy Awards.
Award-winning filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi has directed the short film, which has been produced by Indian producer Guneet Monga's Sikhya Entertainment.
The film came to into being as a part of The Pad Project, started by students at the Oakwood School in Los Angeles and their teacher, Melissa Berton.
I'm not crying because I'm on my period or anything. I can't believe a film on menstruation won an Oscar, Zehtabchi said in her acceptance speech.
She also gave a nod to Monga.
Guneet Monga - know that you have been empowering women all over the world fight for menstrual equality, she added.
Dedicating the award to her school, Berton said the project was born because her students in LA and people in India wanted to make a human rights difference .
I share this award with the Feminist Majority Foundation, the entire team and cast. I share this with the teachers and students around the worlds - a period should end a sentence, not a girl's education, she said.
The documentary feature is set in Hapur village outside Delhi, where women lead a quiet revolution as they fight against the deeply rooted stigma of menstruation.
For generations, these women did not have access to sanitary pads, which lead to health issues and girls dropping out from schools.
When a sanitary pad vending machine is installed in the village, the women learn to manufacture and market their own pads, empowering their community. They name their brand FLY .
"WE WON!!! To every girl on this earth... know that you are a goddess... if heavens are listening... look MA we put @sikhya on the map," Monga tweeted after the win.
Other documentary shorts nominated in the category were "Black Sheep", "End Game", "Lifeboat" and "A Night at the Garden".
There has been an increased focus on period hygiene in India, which was also the subject of a mainstream Bollywood movie Padman , starring Akshay Kumar in the lead role in a biopic on Arunachalam Muruganantham, who started making low cost pads in his village despite being ostracised.
India's moment at the Oscars comes exactly a decade after A R Rahman and sound engineer Resul Pookutty won the Academy awards for "Slumdog Millionaire" in 2009.
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IYC chief Uday Bhanu Chib released on bail in AI Summit protest case
New Delhi (PTI): Indian Youth Congress national president Uday Bhanu Chib, who was arrested for the "shirtless protest" at AI Impact Summit last month, has been released from Tihar jail, sources said on Tuesday.
The development comes a day after the Delhi High Court stayed a sessions court order that had put Chib's bail on hold.
Soon after walking out of jail, Chib said his first message was that the party stands firmly against the India-US trade deal.
"We will continue our struggle to stop this agreement. Despite knowing its implications, the prime minister is still pushing ahead, which only reaffirms the belief that he is acting as an agent of the West," Chib said.
On Sunday, Justice Saurabh Banerjee heard a plea filed by the IYC chief challenging the sessions court's decision to stay the magistrate's bail order.
The magistrate had granted bail to Chib on February 28, but within hours, the relief was halted by the sessions court.
Chib was sent to four-day police custody by a trial court on February 24.
Visuals recorded outside Tihar jail showed jubilant Youth Congress members lifting Chib on their shoulders as he walked out, before escorting him to a car.
A large crowd had gathered outside the jail to welcome him.
Supporters raised slogans such as "Rahul Gandhi tere naam, yeh jawani hai kurban" (Rahul Gandhi, this youth is dedicated to you) and "PM is compromised".
Many of them were seen waving flags and holding placards that read "Roll back India-US trade deal".
Chib was arrested in connection with the "shirtless protest" by Youth Congress workers at the AI Impact Summit, which India hosted at Bharat Mandapam here on February 20.
At the summit venue, IYC workers protested by removing and holding white T-shirts with images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump printed on them, along with slogans such as "India-US Trade Deal", "Epstein Files" and "PM is compromised".
