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On the occasion of International Day
of the Girl, Two-time Academy and three-time Emmy Award-winning director Sharmeen
Obaid-Chinoy launched a campaign with Gucci’s CHIME FOR CHANGE
to #LetGirlsDream
in support of Girls Not Brides: The
Global Partnership to End Child Marriage and Equality Now’s efforts to bring an end to child marriage.
Compelled by this critical global
issue, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has partnered with CHIME FOR CHANGE on her new
animated short film, SITARA: LET GIRLS DREAM, about Pari, a young girl whose dream of being
a pilot is crushed when she is forced into child marriage. It is the story of
12 million girls around the world who are married off as child brides every
year denying
them the right to education and an opportunity to
fulfil their dreams. In Nigeria, 76% of
girls are married before the age of 18. In Central African Republic it’s 68%,
in Chad it’s 67% and Bangladesh is 59%. For Pakistan; 21% of girls are married
before their 18th birthday and 3% are married before the age of 15
and in the US where 23 states have no minimum age for marriage, over 160,000
children under the age of 18 were married between 2000 and 2010.
To accompany the film and in
coordination with Equality Now and Girls Not Brides, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
and CHIME FOR CHANGE have launched a campaign around the theme “Let Girls
Dream”. At LetGirlsDream.org and through the hashtag #LetGirlsDream, visitors
are encouraged to share their dreams and to call on the global community to
help break down the barriers that keep so many girls and women from pursuing
theirs. Italian fashion designer Alessandro Michele, President and CEO of Gucci
Marco Bizzarri, singer and actress Lou Doillon, model and actress Elle Fanning,
model and activist Bethann Hardison, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, CEO
of Women Deliver Katja Iversen, actress, model and entrepreneur Neelofa, editor
and publisher Elise by Olsen, actress Saoirse Ronan, model and actress Jodie
Turner-Smith, musician Alison Wonderland, visual artist John Yuyi, and acid
attack survivors from Hothur Foundation, girls and women from mothers2mothers,
Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, Lower East Side Girls Club, and many others,
have already shared their dreams on the platform.
Written
and directed by Sharmeen, SITARA: LET GIRLS DREAM takes
the audience on a journey through the old city of Lahore where a fourteen-year
old girl, Pari, dreams of becoming a pilot. Her story is
told through the perspective of her six-year-old sister Mehr, who
is unaware of the traditions and barriers that lay in the path of women
from her family. It is a story about
the burdens of a family and the impact of a culture where
girls are still struggling to fully realize their dreams. SITARA is
a silent film [no dialogues] which embodies this struggle.
To coincide with International Day
of the Girl, Gucci and CHIME FOR CHANGE hosted the premiere of SITARA, followed by a conversation with
Obaid-Chinoy, Executive Producers Gloria Steinem and Ariel Wengroff, producer
Imke Fehrmann, and composer Laura Karpman, moderated by Kimberly Drew. At
LetGirlsDream.org educators globally have the opportunity to request a local
screening, discussion materials and activities that encourage girls and young
people to share their dreams and inspire one another.
“Young girls
everywhere still face considerable hurdles in achieving their dreams. SITARA
embodies that struggle; it is the story of Pari, a young girl who dreams of
becoming a pilot and is robbed of it. For me, SITARA is more than a film, it is
a movement that we want to start across the world, that encourages parents to
invest in their girls’ dreams, freeing their daughters from the burdens of
early marriage.” said
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who is also a CHIME FOR CHANGE Advisory Board Member
along with Sarah Brown [Chair, Global Business Coalition
for Education], Leymah Gbowee [Nobel Peace Prize recipient (2011)], Jada
Pinkett Smith [Actor, Advocate and Founder, Don't Sell Bodies], Julia Roberts [Actor,
Activist and Philanthropist] and Cleo Wade [Artist, poet, and author], to name
a few.
The music for SITARA has been composed by
Emmy Award-Winning composer Laura Karpman. Recorded and mixed at the world’s
most famous and iconic studio, Abbey Road studios, Karpman’s score has been
paramount in bringing the film’s story and characters to life. The film’s Executive
Producers include Gloria Steinem, the iconic women’s rights activist, and Darla
Anderson, the Academy Award Winning producer of Coco and Toy Story 3.
SITARA: LET GIRLS DREAM, is produced under the banner of Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s animation
company, Waadi Animations entirely in Pakistan, from its concept to execution
in association with Vice Studios and Gucci’s CHIME FOR CHANGE.
In
Pakistan, the Waadi Animations Team is spearheaded by Art Director Salman
Nasir, Animation Director Kamran Khan, CG Lighting Supervisor Adnan Saeed, Director
of Photography Faizan Ali, Editor Husain Qaizer, Sound Effects Editor Sameer
Khan, co-producer Eleyna Sara Haroun and Associate Producer Syed Ayub with Salman
Iqbal, Jerjees Seja, Imke Fehrmann and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy as the producers.
For more information, visit:
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About Waadi Animation:
Waadi Animations, with
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy as the CEO and Founder, was the first animation company
in Pakistan to produce feature-length animation films, under the franchise name
3 Bahadur. With the aim of creating a set of heroes that would resonate with
Pakistani children and inspire them to create meaningful social change and
become heroes within their own communities, SITARA is the fourth animated film
produced by Waadi Animations.
About CHIME FOR CHANGE:
CHIME FOR CHANGE was founded by Gucci in 2013 to convene, unite and
strengthen the voices speaking out for gender equality globally, with a focus
on Education, Health and Justice. To date, the campaign has raised $15 million
to support projects and advocacy in 89 countries, through the funding of 430
projects with 156 partners. CHIME FOR CHANGE aims to inspire participation in a
collective community, bringing people together across borders and generations
in the fight for equality.
About Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End
Child Marriage:
Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child
Marriage is a partnership of more than 1,200 civil society organizations
committed to ending child marriage and enabling girls to fulfill their
potential. It has a theory of change which explains how ending child marriage
requires long-term sustainable efforts by a variety of actors across sectors.
Since 1995, Equality Now has been
working to achieve legal and systemic change by calling on governments to enact
and uphold laws that prevent child marriage, and to advocate for 18 as the
minimum age of marriage, without exception.
