At The 91st Academy Awards were held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles today. Period, The End of Sentence, a documentary on Menstruation in India wins an Oscar.
It was directed by Rayka Zetabji and produced by the Indian producer Guneet Monga’s Sikhya Entertainment. The film based on menustration 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.
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.
“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 film depicts an insight to fight against the menustral stigma fough everyday by women dwelling in the remote areas across the country. The documentary shows how a sanitary pad vending machine installed in the village helps woman to manufacture and market their own pads, empowering their community. They name their brand FLY.
After Padman where Akshay Kumar was in a lead role, menustral hygiene has become an widely spread mainstream subject and India has set on a march to end this stigma.
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.
As the documentary bags an Oscar, it seems that the stigma is set to end not only in India but across the globe pacing high towards every Indian mindset.
