SHAME

Origin Country: Pakistan/USA
Runtime: 110 MIN
Presentation Format: Digi Beta

DIR Mohammed Naqvi PROD Mohammed Naqvi, Jill Schneider DP Ahmed Bashir ED Niharika Desai MUS Janek Duszynski FEATURING Mukhtaran Mai

Short Note:
In 2002, following the tribal custom of "honor for honor," a young woman, Mukhtar Mai, was gang-raped and then publicly paraded for a crime her younger brother committed. Mai set out to seek justice. SHAME is her transformative journey from a simple peasant woman into a world human rights iconÑwho gave the village that shamed her two schools and a Women's Crisis Center.

Long Note:
Every day, horrific world events evade justice. SHAME is the story of a courageous woman who fought back. During the summer of 2002, in a remote village of Pakistan, 33-year-old Mukhtaran Mai's life changed when the village's tribal council sanctioned apunishment against her for a crime allegedly committed by her younger brother. Following the tribal custom of "honor for honor," Mai was gang-raped and then publicly paraded around as an example.

Her family cowered in shame. The village shunned her. Normally the only recourse for such a woman would be suicide. Instead, Mai set out to seek justice and shook the very core of Pakistan's decaying judicial system. In her quest, she endured public scrutiny and exposure to the alien world outside her village, losing friends, family and her life, as she knew it.

Throughout this incredible journey, Mai maintains an astonishing resilience and belief inherself. Journalists may visit less frequently, but her workÑand the work of women like her - is not yet over. There is still plenty of shame to be faced and conquered.
-Thom Powers

Biography:
Mohammed Naqvi was born in Montreal and grew up in Canada, the United States and Pakistan. His short films include Time (99), Night (99) and Hide (04). He also directed thedocumentary Terror's Children (03). Shame (06) is his first feature-length documentary.