It was a huge success to be already nominated and a even a bigger suprise that a movie about periods can win the Oscar!
Period. End of Sentence won an Oscar for the best short documentary. Congratulations to the the Pad Project, a non-profit that advocates for access to menstrual hygiene in the US and in the developing world and director Rayka Zehtabchi.
The documentary follows girls and women in the city of Hapur,a rural village outside Delhi, India. They fight against the deeply rooted stigma of menstruation. For generations, these women didn’t have access to pads, which lead to health problems and girls missing school or dropping out entirely. But when a sanitary pad machine is installed in the village, the women learn to manufacture and market their own pads, empowering the women of their community. They name their brand “FLY,” because they want women “to soar.” Their flight is, in part, enabled by the work of high school girls half a world away, in California, who raised the initial money for the machine and began a non-profit called “The Pad Project.”
The movie now screens on Netflix. Watch the trailer below:
Period. End of Sentence is streaming on Netflix.Watch the trailer here:
The movie shines the light on the plight of women and girls across the world and their challenges to manage their menstrual hygiene.
Although the movie focusses mostly on sanitary pads as THE solution and leaves out certain other aspects such as pain and lack of appropriate WASH infrastructure as other key obstacles to girl’s education in relation to her period, it shows very well the importance to break the taboos, stigma and limiting practices related to menstruation.
We couldn’t be happier that the discussion around menstrual hygiene now found such a big and prominent stage, and it will surely open the space for continued dialogue and exchange around the issue, and we are looking forward to harness this momentum leading up to MH Day. The MH Day partners are doing tremendous work to enable each and everyone to have a safe, dignified period: in school, at home and at work.