Quote

It's often said that I choose subjects that are sensational! I choose to film subjects that spark difficult conversations and make people uncomfortable. Change only comes about when people are forced to discuss an issue, and that's what I hope my films do.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Age: 46
Born: 1978
Born: November 12
Film Director
Film Producer
Journalist
Heart of Pakistan
Often
Issue
Comes
Films
Sensational
Film
Conversation
Spark
Change
Subjects
Discuss
Make
Choose
Conversations
People
Issues
Sparks
Hope
Forced
Difficult
Uncomfortable

More quotes by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Image
I'd like to do a film in Canada, but it's too difficult. National Film Board funding takes too long, and there's too much paperwork by the time the film is approved the topic is dead and gone.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
When the film and music industries declined in the wake of increasingly conservative Muslim laws and social customs in Pakistan, many of these musicians found themselves out of work. They were brought together at Sachal Studios by Izzat Majeed, who built the studio in order to preserve these musical traditions.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
By giving our audience intimate access to the lives of musicians, we hope to raise awareness of the region's beautiful cultural heritage and present a more nuanced portrait of its people.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from - if you put quality work out there, it will be appreciated.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
But the biggest challenge overall was narrowing down the complex narrative elements into a clean and straightforward story while maintaining a sense of the cultural context that makes the film special.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
Don't give up your dreams.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
The young boys I speak with say to me: Why would I want to live in this world - where they rely on charity, dry pieces of bread and water, where they are subjected to harsh treatment, when they can be free and be the envy of their colleagues in the afterlife. They are only too eager to sign on the dotted line and join the ranks of the Taliban.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
In December 2011, I will be opening up my production house, Sharmeen Obaid Films, and aspire to change the way Pakistanis approach nonfiction storytelling. There are thousands of stories to be found here.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
It takes one second to ruin a woman's life.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
Despite their rising international acclaim, Sachal Studios remains virtually unknown in Pakistan. The ensemble is faced with a daunting task: to reclaim and reinvigorate an art that has lost its space in Pakistan's narrowing cultural sphere.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
My family restores my sense of ease and keeps me balanced.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
I hope I can make Pakistan proud by bringing home an Oscar.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
I believe in telling the truth.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
Education liberates a woman.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
I feel that for the first time in a long time, educated Pakistanis are returning to their country to start up educational projects, to start up businesses, so instead of the brain-drain that happened in the 1950s and 1960s, the country is growing and improving economically.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
As filmmakers, you're not working on just one project, you're producing something, directing something, shooting something, and so it becomes hard to do it by yourself.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
Working in any country where you want to talk about the kind of issues that other people don't want to talk about is difficult.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
All the women in Pakistan working for change, don't give up on your dreams, this is for you.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
Fighting the Taliban and the various radical organizations on the front lines is like adding a Band-Aid to a cut, it may stop the bleeding but unless you clean it with antiseptic, the germs stay and multiply.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Image
By bringing the voices of the ordinary people faced with extraordinary challenges to television screens around the world, I hope to affect change in one community at a time.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy