This is an IHeart podcast.

I'm Maeve Higgins and this is Solvable.

Interviews with the world's most innovative thinkers working to solve the world's biggest problems.

My solvable is I want to change the way men and women see themselves through film.

That's Charmine Obid Shinoi. She is a journalist, a filmmaker and an activist.

Oh, and a two-time Oscar winner.

Gender-based violence happens in all societies, regardless of income, class and culture,

but Charmine is Pakistani and she makes much of her work there.

Pakistan sees thousands of cases of violence against women every year, from rape and acid attacks to sexual assault,

kidnappings and so-called honor killings. There's a growing movement to tackle this. The country's

top judge announced earlier this year that more than 1,000 courts dedicated to tackling violence

against women are going to be set up. A pilot court of this kind was opened in 2017, in Punjab,

Pakistan's most populous province.

Local High Court Chief Justice Mansour Ali Shah said at the time

that women were the most vulnerable members of society

and that one in every three had been a victim of physical or psychological violence.

Our guest today shares the same goal as Judge Shah, changing the way women are treated in Pakistan, but she uses a different medium, film.

Sharmin's films have been hugely influential, raising awareness and bringing about legislative change.

In her Oscar-winning film, A Girl in the River, Charmine tells the story of Sabah Cicera, a young

woman who survived an attempted murder at the hands of her father.

In her Oscar acceptance speech,

Sharmin held the then Prime Minister of Pakistan to account for doing something about it.

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