SHAME

In summer 2002, the peasant life of one Pakistani woman, Mukhtaran Mai, changed forever. As punishment for speaking out against the accusation that her brother had had sexual intercourse with an upper-caste girl, she was sentenced to a gang rape by four men of the girl's tribe. Her father, uncle and a dozen other men looked on as the men paraded her ravaged, half-naked body around the village to set an example. After the incident, the entire family was burdened with an immense feeling of shame, and Mukhtaran tried to commit suicide. When her brother assured her that the allegations against him were false, something snapped inside her. Suddenly free of shame and fear, Mukhtaran wanted justice. Risking her life, she decided to go public with her story and press charges against her rapists. This set in motion a long chain of events. The men were arrested and later released. Mukhtaran went to the United States and her story attracted the attention of the world's media. Under pressure from the international community, the Pakistani authorities had her rapists arrested again and they were sentenced to death. Shame tells the story of a strong woman, who sets an example for victims of sex crimes worldwide.

"We received standing ovations at every screening when Mai came to the stage. People were not ready to even let her leave - they wanted to ask her so many questions. Even after we left the cinema hall, people came up to us and took pictures with Muktharan and hugged her. In fact, we also got a letter the next day from a rape survivor who was in the audience who was compelled to write to Mukhtaran and tell us how inspired she was by Mukhtaran's story." Mohammed Ali Naqvi