Netflix is releasing a new animated short film from award-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Titled Sitara: Let Girls Dream, the moving story centers on a 14-year-old girl named Pari who dreams of being a pilot, while growing up in a society that doesn’t allow her to dream.
“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,” said Obaid-Chinoy. “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.”
Obaid-Chinoy is a two-time Academy Award winner and three-time Emmy Award winner, known for her work in films that highlight women’s experiences of inequality. She is the only female director to have won two Academy Awards by the age of 37, and her work has been screened around the world. Saving Face (HBO), which chronicles the lives of survivors of acid violence, won the 2012 Oscar for Best Documentary Short — Pakistan’s first Academy Award. A Girl in the River: The Price for Forgiveness (HBO) about honor killings in Pakistan won the 2015 Oscar for Best Documentary Short. Additional projects include: Song of Lahore, Peace Keepers and Transgenders: Pakistan’s Open Secret.
VICE Studios financed and produced the film. Imke Fehrmann serves as producer on the film. Women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem and Darla Anderson, the Academy Award-winning producer of Coco and Toy Story 3, VICE Media Group CEO Nancy Dubuc, and Emmy-nominated Ariel Wengroff serve as executive producers, as well as Sharmeen’s animation production company Waadi Animation. Adnan Saeed joins the crew as CG supervisor, while Salman Nasir is the Art Director and Kamran Khan as the animation director. Four-time Emmy winner and Grammy Award winner Laura Karpman is the short’s composer.
“Twelve million girls every year are forced into child marriage, losing their ability to dream. We hope this film gives young people and their families the ability to spark a conversation for a different perspective on what we allow our children to aspire to be when they grow up,” said Wengroff. “We are thrilled to have Netflix as a partner to share this project with the world.”
Steinem commented, “Thanks to the universal language of animation, Sitara will help girls everywhere to dream and to soar.”
GUCCI’s social impact initiative Chime for Change, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Ariel Wengroffwill create an impact campaign for the film around the theme “Let Girls Dream,” through which they hope to encourage girls around the world to share their dreams and gain inspiration from one another. Learn more at www.LetGirlsDream.org.
