Proud Moment! India-Set Film ‘Period: End of Sentence’ Wins Oscar

In a proud moment for Indian movie lovers, "Period. End of Sentence", a country made short film based on the taboos around menstruation and featuring the real 'Pad Man', picked up an Oscar in Documentary Short Subject category at the 91st Academy Awards ceremony.

The film, backed by Indian producer Guneet Monga's Sikhya Entertainment, is about women in India fighting against the deeply rooted stigma of menstruation and delving upon the work of real life 'Pad Man' Arunachalam Muruganathan.

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Congratulations Rayka Zehtabchi ((@raykaz)) for winning an Academy Award for “PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE” (@periodendofsentence) - Best Documentary Short Subject. Rayka is an Iranian-American film director based in Los Angeles. Her directorial debut, Madaran, is an Iranian language short film that has screened worldwide at established film festivals, winning jury awards at Hollyshorts, Urbanworld, and Cleveland International. Madaran qualified for the 89th Academy Awards in 2016. Rayka's short documentary, Period. End of Sentence., is about a group of village women in Northern India who start a sanitary pad business in an effort to improve feminine hygiene and de-stigmatize menstruation. Along with the film's release, the Period team co-founded the non-profit "The Pad Project" to fight the stigma of menstruation and improve feminine hygiene worldwide. . Period double-qualified for the academy awards in 2018, winning Jury and audience awards at Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival and Cleveland International. The film also took home Jury and audience awards from AFI Fest among many others and was nominated in the Documentary Short category of the 91st Academy Awards®. . Rayka's passion is telling human stories that bring awareness and action to little-known social causes. She brings a naturalistic approach to her storytelling, striving for honesty and intimacy on screen. Bio from #IMDB . . #inspiringiranians #inspiringwomen #raykazehtabchi #periodendofsentence #mensturation #oscars #academyaward #iranianamerican #bestdocumentaryshortsubject #iranianfilmmaker #indianwomen #hygiene #michaelmoore #madaran #afi #storyteller #iranianfilmmaker #iraniandirector #iamanimmigrant

A post shared by Inspiring Iranians (@inspiringiranians) on Feb 24, 2019 at 8:06pm PST

While accepting the prestigious award, Rayka Zehtabchi said, “I’m not crying because I’m on my period or anything. I can’t believe a film on menstruation won an Oscar. Guneet Monga–know that you have been empowering women all over the world fight for menstrual equality.”

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هنرمند ایرانی آمریکایی برنده جایزه اسکار شد . #اسکار #ایران #آمریکا #سینما #مستند #زنان #زنان_ایران #برابری_زن_و_مرد #raykazehtabchi #رایکازهتابچی #periodendofsentence #oscars

A post shared by Mohsen (@m.ba.65) on Feb 24, 2019 at 8:21pm PST

Directed by award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi, the 26-minute film follows girls and women in Hapur in northern India and their experience with the installation of a pad machine in their village.