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Friday, May 25, 2012
‘Saving Face’ directors refute reports of release in PakistanLAHORE: Co-directors of the Oscar-winning film ‘Saving Face’, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daniel Junge, have termed as false reports of potential release of their film in Pakistan, saying they were only considering such a step.
The clarification comes in the wake of reports that survivors of acid attacks whose plight became the focus of the film, fear ostracism and reprisals if the documentary is shown in Pakistan. The Acid Survivors Foundation Pakistan (ASF), which had cooperated on the film has sent legal notices to Obaid-Chinoy and Junge. ASF’s lawyer said the survivors “have not consented for it (the documentary) to be publicly released in Pakistan”, adding that such agreement was required for all the women who featured in the film, no matter how fleetingly.
The director duo rebutted this claim, saying, “The Acid Survivors Foundation [ASF] has falsely asserted that we filmmakers promised not to show the film in Pakistan. Here we would like to state emphatically that all subjects were informed of our intention to release the film globally, including Pakistan, and that all subjects signed a release to this effect.” They further said, “Copies of these signed releases are available through our Pakistan-based lawyer. Furthermore, legal releases were presented to anyone who was part of the film and these were also made available in Urdu and fully explained to the subjects by the ASF themselves, precisely to ensure that there was no ambiguity and to maintain the highest standard of ethics on our part.”
The pair says Rukhsana, one of the principal subjects of the film, signed the release at the ASF with Muhammad and Valerie Khan of the ASF (executive director and chairperson of ASF, respectively) and the contents of the release were fully explained by them to her. “On the same day we also got signatures of a similar release in Urdu from Naila Farhat, who is quoted in the article and appears in our film for less than 30 seconds and unidentified on screen. Similarly the document was fully explained to her as well despite her remaining unidentified (except for her own recent statement to the press),” the film’s directors said, adding, “The sole exception was one of our two primary subjects, namely Zakia, who initially requested the film not be shown in Pakistan, but has since given us full written authority to show the film in Pakistan for which we have committed to make slight edits on her request, to respect the safety of her family.”
Referring to an allegation of unfulfilled financial promises to the victims, the pair said, “As documentary filmmakers, at no point did we ever make any financial commitments to the subjects and the signed releases with each subject states this explicitly. Nonetheless, although we as filmmakers have yet to realise a profit from the film, we have successfully raised money from donors at international screenings to assist our two principal subjects with legal cases and housing which has already been accepted by Zakia.
“We have also from the outset offered to give all proceeds from Pakistan broadcasts to the subjects and organisations working on this issue so we have no financial stake in whether it airs in Pakistan.” Obaid-Chinoy and Junge warned “should anyone make such baseless statements we will not hesitate in pursuing legal action, both civil and criminal in such regards. Thus although we strongly maintain that we have full legal right to do so, we are currently considering whether we wish to proceed with Pakistan broadcast, following the ASF’s campaign against the release of the film.” pr
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk