On February 24, 2019, ‘Period. End of Sentence’ bagged the Academy Award in the Best Documentary (Short Subject) category. The film was directed by Iranian-American filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi and co-produced by Guneet Monga from India, who in the past has produced many feature films and documentaries including The Lunchbox, Gangs of Wasseypur, Masaan, Tigers and Haraamkhor.
The documentary traces the journey of women of Hapur district near Delhi, who by using sanitary pad making machines are doing away with the stigma that is attached to speaking about menstruation. “To Every Girl On This Earth... Know That You Are A Goddess...” tweeted Monga post the win.
The documentary is a deep-dive into the overarching stigma that comes with dealing with all-things-menstruation — from the lack of information with respect to menstrual hygiene to providing women with sanitary pad-making machines. The documentary also features Arunachalam Murugantham, the man whose life inspired Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Pad Man’.
After menstruation’s mainstream Bollywood debut through ‘Pad Man’, this Academy Award winning documentary will hopefully help lift the bloody menstruation taboo has loomed like a dark cloud over Indian women and young girls for far too long.
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