India Documentary Film "Period" wins the Oscar

It's an Oscar for 'Period-End of a Sentence.' A 25-minute documentary set in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur District won an Oscar at the 91st Academy Awards on Monday. The set for the 25 Minute Documentary film took place in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur District. The film won an Oscar at the 91 st Academy Awards on Monday. Period. End of a Sentence, Directed by the Iranian- American Director Rayka Zehtabchi, Won the award for The Best Documentary ( Short Subject).

In her Oscar acceptance speech, Zehtabchi said: I'm not crying because I'm on my period or anything. I can't believe a film on menstruation won an Oscar. The Documentary was produced by Indian producer Guneet Monga's Sikhya Entertainment and crowdfunded by students from Los Angeles along with their teacher Melissa Berton.

The documentary highlights the Taboo around menstruation in India, due to which access to sanitary and hygienic products are difficult to come by. It talks about the hesitation in talking about menstruation and how several young women faced health issues and were even forced to drop out of the school due to this.

The hapur district comes up with a vending machine for sanitary pads, then the women begin manufacturing and marketing their own products under the Brand Fly.

As the title suggests, a period must only end a sentence and not one's education, liberty and independence. Through the documentary, the director attempts to make menstraution a taboo-free subject; the film does the job well as we can see the changes being made at the grass root level. 

This movie wins exactly a decade after Slumdog Millionaire won an Oscar in 2009.