It takes a truly powerful subject matter to get noticed in a field of documentaries that included topics such as the war in Iraq, the Japanese tsunami and the Civil Rights Movement, but Saving Face did just that at this year’s Academy Awards, where its moving portrait of the victims of “acid violence” in Pakistan earned it an Oscar for Best Documentary Short. 

For Daniel Junge, who co-directed Saving Face with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, the Academy Award is less about prestige and more about getting the film’s message out. “While it’s obviously personally gratifying as a filmmaker, it’s meant a much bigger global audience for what otherwise could have been a much less recognized human rights film. For us, this means a bigger platform from which to continue the dialogue about acid violence.” The film screens this Sunday, July 15, at the Downer Theatre at 11 a.m. to benefit Karachi’s Indus Hospital, which provides free reconstructive surgery to victims of acid violence. The program will also feature a short film about Indus.

“Acid violence” refers to the growing problem of disfiguring acid attacks in Pakistan, whose victims are mostly women and typically perpetrated by husbands or other family members. The film follows several of these women as they seek treatment for their condition and continue to live under the difficult social strictures of Pakistani life that often sees them still living with their attackers and dealing with unwilling or unable authorities. Dr. Mohammad Jawad, a Pakistani practicing in London, returns to his former home to help reconstruct these women’s faces and their lives. Unflinching in its portrait of the victims and the people who are trying to help them, Saving Face is a harrowing story of personal struggle, with broader implications about gender roles and social injustice in the Middle East. “[We] are making the film available to whomever wants to screen it in conjunction with trying to alleviate the problem,” says Junge. “This Wisconsin [screening] is a perfect example of that – some motivated folks who want to raise money for the hospital in the film.”

The screening is spearheaded by Dr. Iram Nadeem, assistant professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin and a Karachi native. Chair of the Pakistan Physicians Society of Wisconsin, Nadeem has firsthand experience of the Indus Hospital and understands the devastation of acid violence. “It is yet another example of violence towards women and often children,” says Nadeem. “It leaves women disfigured permanently, so they remain undesirable and shunned from society. This way the women can never look at themselves without the reminder of violence, abuse and fear.” The PPSW is co-sponsoring the event, along with the Faith to Act Project, a Milwaukee-based organization that promotes gender equality and empowerment worldwide.

For Nadeem, Saving Face provides a unique opportunity. “Bringing forward social, political and economic issues that affect women is a cause close to my heart. I was involved with several women’s groups during my student years in Pakistan. Moreover, [Jawad] is from my alma mater [Dow Medical College] and was a few years senior to me and is a friend of mine. I felt this was a great opportunity to use Saving Face to highlight Indus to the Milwaukee community.” The Indus Hospital handles inpatient and outpatient care, surgical procedures like those featured in the film, and separate nursing colleges for men and women – all through donations and grants.

Junge sees this grassroots effort to address the problem at the heart of the film as vital to its mission. “So many people have wanted to screen the film and wherever that’s happening, there’s a conversation about this problem and attention to groups like Acid Survivors Trust International, who are tackling this problem globally. I think the power of [Saving Face] comes from the fact that it focuses on Pakistanis addressing this global problem. If it were merely an exposé it would not have had the kind of resonance it has had. Rather, we see that this insidious phenomenon can be tackled when people stand up, and that’s a powerful message.”

Saving Face screens this Sunday, July 15, at the Downer Theatre, 2589 N. Downer Avenue. Tickets are $25 at the door. It is co-presented by The Faith to Act Project and the Pakistan Physicians Society of Wisconsin. Proceeds benefit the Indus Hospital and victims of Acid Violence. 

For more information on the film and how to help the problem, please visit www.savingfacefilm.com and www.acidviolence.org.

Information on the Faith to Act Project can be found at www.faithtoact.org.

Information on the Pakistan Physicians Society of Wisconsin can be found at www.ppsow.org.