Saving Face

2012 • NR • Series • Catalog pick

Every year in Pakistan, at least 100 people are victimized by acid attacks. The majority of these are women, and many cases go unreported. With little or no access to reconstructive surgery, survivors are physically and emotionally scarred, while many reported assailants - typically a husband or someone close to the victim - are let go with minimal punishment from the state. Saving Face tells the stories of two acid-attack victims: Zakia, a 39-year old whose husband threw acid on her after she filed for divorce, and Rukhsana, a 25-year-old whose husband and in-laws threw acid and gasoline on her, then set her on fire. Charting the arduous attempts to bring their assailants to justice, the film also follows plastic surgeon Dr. Mohammad Jawad, who put his London practice on hold to return to his home country to help Zakia, Rukhsana and other victims. Directed by Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Daniel Junge and Emmy-winning Pakistani director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Saving Face is a powerful look inside Pakistani society, illuminating each woman's personal journey while showing how reformers are tackling this vexing problem through the passage of a new law that punishes convicted acid attackers with life imprisonment. Winner of the 2012 Oscar for Best Documentary Short.