A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness

The Academy Award winning 2015 short film explores an attempted honour killing in Pakistan. Nineteen-year-old Saba, whose father and uncle are furious that she’s married a man they don’t approve of, is beaten and shot and left for dead in a nearby river. But her will to survive keeps her heart beating and she miraculously escapes – albeit scarred physically and emotionally. And all she wanted was love.

This 40-minute film will rip your heart out, and rightfully so. It’s raw and emotive.

Saba is one of 1000 women who reportedly pay for their “sins” every year – except she lived to tell her tale, with help from director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and affect change, says Sonam Joshi from mashable.com: “In her Oscar acceptance speech, Sharmeen stressed the power of film – and a result of the international spotlight being shone on the film, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif spoke of the need for a stronger law against honour killings”. Sadly, since the film debuted the problem has reportedly worsened.