Indian film producer Guneet Monga brings home an Oscar as her co-production Period. End of Sentence wins Best Documentary Short. Based on the deep stigma associated with menstruation in India, Guneet’s short also delves upon the work of real-life PadMan Arunachalam Muruganantham.
“Thank you to the Academy for the highest honour and for recognising the efforts of the young girls from Oakwood school in LA (Los Angeles) to Kathikera in UP in helping us shatter the glass ceiling,” said the New Delhi-born.
She further added, “Periods are normal and in no way do they stops us from achieving anything. This has been more than 10 years of work of action India run by Gauri Chaudhary on educating reproductive rights on the ground in many villages. Feminist Majority Movement and Girls learn International have been pushing this cause in the US.”
Guneet has executive produced and her production firm Sikhya has co-produced the short, which won the Best Documentary Short at the 91st Academy Awards. “Every girl in India or anywhere around the world needs to know this and hear this loud and clear. Period is an end of a sentence but not a girl’s education,” she said.
Guneet also thanked Netflix for supporting the cause. “I am honoured and absolutely humbled to partner with Melissa and Rayka in making our short documentary happen. Mandakini Kakar from Sikhya was on the floor working with the film and is the voice of the film too. And thank you Stacey Sher and Lisa Taback for supporting this massive dream. And thank you Netflix truly putting us on the MAP! Here is to more girl power... I really want every girl to know that each one of them is a goddess. Now, that we have an Oscar, Let’s go change the world,” she said.