‘Period. End of Sentence’, a film about the deep-rooted stigma attached to menstruation in a rural village in India walked away with the Best Documentary Short award at the 91st Academy Awards. The film has been co-produced by Guneet Monga and directed by 25-year-old Rayka Zehtabchi.
The film is about women in India fighting against the deeply rooted stigma of menstruation and delving upon the work of real life ‘Pad Man’ Arunachalam Muruganathan. It is executive produced by Monga and is co-produced by Monga’s Sikhya Entertainment, which has backed films like The Lunchbox and Masaan.
Directed by award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi, the film is created by The Pad Project, an organisation established by an inspired group of students at the Oakwood School in Los Angeles and their teacher, Melissa Berton.
The 26-minute film follows girls and women in Hapur in northern India and their experience with the installation of a pad machine in their village.
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In the rural Hapur district, menstrual blood is considered dirty and shameful, a belief reinforced by the fact that most women there cannot afford, or do not know how to use, disposable pads. As a result, many girls drop out of school once they begin menstruating — the cloths they use to protect their garments need constant changing, but there is often no privacy in which to change them, and the girls are too ashamed to ask for help. Adult women often remain in their homes when they get their periods for the same reason, reinforcing the notion that menstruation requires isolation and makes women weaker than men.
The film was competing with other films like Black Sheep, End Game, Lifeboat and A Night at the Garden.
