''Outlawed in Pakistan'' is a 2013

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

Habiba Nosheen Habiba Nosheen ( ur, ) is an Investigative journalist. Her film '' Outlawed in Pakistan'' premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2013 and was called "among the standouts" of Sundance by the ''Los Angeles Times''. A longer version of the film air ...

and Hilke Schellmann. The film follows

Kainat Soomro Kainat Soomro ( sd, ڪائنات سومرو) (born May 2, 1993 in Mehar, Pakistan) is a Pakistani woman whose struggle to obtain justice for her gang rape at the age of 13 drew international attention. Kainat was steadfast in her determination to ...

, a Pakistani woman who was

gang rape Gang rape, also called serial gang rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape in scholarly literature,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrator Rape: A Multidisciplinary Re ...

d at the age of 13 and struggled to obtain justice. The film was featured at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

in January 2013. A longer version aired on PBS ''

Frontline Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...

''.

Synopsis

''Outlawed in Pakistan'' traces Kainat Soomro's experiences with the Pakistani justice system and the attempts of the four alleged rapists to clear their names. The documentary includes interviews with Soomro, her family, her lawyer Faisal Siddiqi, the defense lawyer, and the alleged rapists.

Production

''Outlawed in Pakistan'' was filmed over the course of four years in Soomro's hometown Dadu and

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

. Filmmakers Habiba Nosheen and Hilke Schellmann wanted to find stories of women in Pakistan who were challenging stereotypes and pushing the boundaries of what is expected of them as women. They initially followed two other women in addition to Soomro, but shifted their focus solely to her following developments in her court case. An early version of the film was featured at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013. This version focussed on Soomro's point of view and the types of struggles faced by a woman takes a rape case to court in Pakistan. ''Frontline'' provided the filmmakers with additional funding so that they could translate all of their footage and return to Pakistan. Nosheen and Schellmann were able to find and interview a cleric who backed the men's claims that Soomro had married one of them. The longer, 52-minute version included more details about the legal case and aired on 28 May 2013.

Awards

''Outlawed in Pakistan'' won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 2014 for Outstanding Informational Programming — Long Form & Outstanding Research. It also won the

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

's David A. Andelman and Pamela Title Award for "the best international reporting in the broadcast media showing a concern for the human condition." The film also won a Cinema for Peace Award for Justice.

References

{{reflist 2013 short documentary films Documentary films about violence against women Pakistani short documentary films Rape in Pakistan Pakistani legal films

Synopsis

Production

Awards

See also

References