GRAND PRIX COMPETITION

SHAME

USA/Pakistan, 2006, 96 min., English, Urdu, Siraiki

Director: Mohammed Ali Naqvi
Producer: Mohammed Ali Naqvi / Jill S. Schneider
Cinematography: Bashir Ahmed, Sajjad Naqvi
Editing: Niharika S. Desai
Music: Jan Duszynski
Sound: Eggmen
Production Company: Showtime Networks/ Mu-Nan Pictures
Print Source:
Jill Schneider
930 2nd Avenue
Suite 4A
New York, NY 10022
Tel.: 631 766 3799
Fax: 917 591 7117
e- mail: Schneider_jill@yahoo.com


Shame

In June 2002, Mukhtaran Mai was gang-raped by a group of men while her father, uncle and a dozen other Pakistani men watched. Mai was being punished for an offence her brother had committed: He had had a relationship with a girl from a higher caste, and in so doing had defiled that girl's honor. To even the score, his sister would have to pay with her honor. After the horrific incident, Mai was so overwhelmed by shame she tried to commit suicide. But as this powerful documentary shows, fate had other plans for her. Instead of suffering in silence, Mai ultimately decided to go public with her story and press charges against her rapists. Her decision set a significant chain of events in motion. Mai went to the United States where her story attracted the attention of the world media, and under the pressure of the international community, her rapists were arrested and sentenced to death. Shame tells the mesmerizing of a strong woman who not only managed to get two schools and a crisis centre for women built in her Pakistani village, but also became an advocate for victims of sex crimes worldwide.

Mohammed Ali Naqvi was born in Montreal, Canada in 1980. Director, actor. He founded B.L.A.H. Productions, the New York-based off-off Broadway company in 2002. He currently resides in New York City.

Filmography:

Behind the Scenes of “Big River” (2006), TV;
Shame (2006), feature-length documentary debut;
Breaking Stock (2005), TV;
Hide (2003), short;
Terror’s Children (2003), TV;
Class (1999), short;
Motion Study (1999), short.

SATURDAY, MARCH 31 AT 1:00 PM./CHOPIN THEATRE

THURSDAY, APRIL 5 AT 7:00 PM./GALLERY THEATRE

FRIDAY, APRIL 6 AT 7:00 PM./PORTAGE THEATRE