Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's latest animated film is about child marriages

Two-time Academy and three-time Emmy Award-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy revealed her latest animated film Sitara: Let Girls Dream, which opened in theaters in New York on September 23rd, 2019.

Written and directed by Sharmeen, Sitara: Let Girls Dream takes the audience on a journey through the old city of Lahore where a 14-year old girl, Pari, dreams of becoming a pilot.

Her story is told through the perspective of her six-year-old sister Mehr, who is unaware of the traditions and barriers that lay in the path of women from her family.

It is a story about the burdens of a family and the impact of a culture where girls are still struggling to fully realise their dreams. Sitara is a silent film with no dialogue, which embodies this struggle.

"Young girls everywhere still face considerable hurdles in achieving their dreams. Sitara embodies that struggle, it is a story of Pari, a young girl who dreams of becoming a pilot and is robbed of it."

"For me, Sitara is more than a film, it is a movement that we want to start across the world, that encourages parents to invest in their girls’ dreams, encouraging them to free their girls from the burdens of early marriage," said Obaid-Chinoy.

The team behind the film includes Eleyna Haroon as the co-producer for the film while women's right activist Gloria Steinem and Darla Anderson - the Academy Award Winning producer of Coco and Toy Story 3 - are executive producers. Adnan Saeed joins the crew as CG supervisor, while Babrus Khan is the character designer and Amin Khimani the FX supervisor.

Every year, 12 million girls around the world are married off as child brides denying them the right to education and an opportunity to fulfill their dreams.