Obaid Quotes & Sayings

When I'm not working on the ground, spending time with my husband and daughter puts me at ease. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

My family restores my sense of ease and keeps me balanced. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Where I grew up in Pakistan, it's really the luck of the draw. My mother got married when she was 17. She never went to college but she wanted each and every one of us to go to college and then work. She was relentless about it. And i think that part of who i am is shaped by her strength. If [girls] families support them, they can achieve their dreams — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

There were a lot of unique challenges in producing the film, such as the logistical issues inherent in producing a long-term verite film in Pakistan, dealing with Urdu and Punjabi dialogue with an English-speaking editor and all the difficulties in recording, editing and clearing so many music tracks. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

I hope I can make Pakistan proud by bringing home an Oscar. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

It takes one second to ruin a woman's life. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

We also know that the various faith-based institutions provide about 50 per cent of the health and education services in the poor communities; we also know that they have a large constituency including women and youth; they have outreach and networks and they are credible to their people. If we want to achieve the Millennium Development Foals by scaling up the responses of all the communities, do we ignore this large investment in people? Or do we engage in dialogue and in action? — Thoraya Obaid

My topics are timely. When an event is happening is when I want to be there ... I think it is our duty to challenge the status quo. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

The challenge for UNFPA is to help countries as we always have with no agenda of our own; with sensitivity towards unique cultural values; with an infinite willingness to work with whatever is positive; and with a determination to help countries and people turn universal principles into concrete action. — Thoraya Obaid

In December 2011, I will be opening up my production house, Sharmeen Obaid Films, and aspire to change the way Pakistanis approach nonfiction storytelling. There are thousands of stories to be found here. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

The day I won an Emmy was also the day my father passed away. I received a call from my sister on the way to the ceremony and had to turn my car around and catch the first flight back to Karachi. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

When you play music, you don't need a language. Music is a language. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

In terms of 'Saving Face,' I was inspired by the stories of survivors who didn't let their attacks stop them from pursuing justice and seeking treatment. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

My advice to other female directors would be to pay no heed to naysayers. Women can be united in the fact that there has always been someone in our lives who has told us "it can't be done" or "there is only so much you can do." We are constantly encouraged to think that being born a woman means we were born with limited choices and compromised dreams. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

My films are motivated by a keen interest in highlighting issues that affect marginalized populations who are caught in difficult circumstances. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

The young boys I speak with say to me: Why would I want to live in this world - where they rely on charity, dry pieces of bread and water, where they are subjected to harsh treatment, when they can be free and be the envy of their colleagues in the afterlife. They are only too eager to sign on the dotted line and join the ranks of the Taliban. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

If world leaders decide to [meet the Millennium Development Goals], I think it can be done by 2015 ... The question is, is there a political will to make this investment? — Thoraya Obaid

I'd like to do a film in Canada, but it's too difficult. National Film Board funding takes too long, and there's too much paperwork; by the time the film is approved the topic is dead and gone. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Working in any country where you want to talk about the kind of issues that other people don't want to talk about is difficult. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

It keeps startling me that at the beginning of this 21st century, at a time when we can ... explore the depths of the seas and build an international space station, we have not been able to make childbirth safe for all women around the world ... This is one of the greatest social causes of our time. — Thoraya Obaid

I became a documentary filmmaker because I wanted to make socially conscious films. I never studied filmmaking - everything I have learned has been on the field. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

There are a number of parallels between the slums of Brazil and those found in my hometown, Karachi. The dichotomy that exists in Brazil is uncannily similar to that found in Pakistan, and I hope to one day make a film that follows similar themes. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

I have very strong Canadian connections. My daughter was born there a year and half ago. But because of the nature of my job, I need to be in countries where I can get the stories that I am looking at. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Despite their rising international acclaim, Sachal Studios remains virtually unknown in Pakistan. The ensemble is faced with a daunting task: to reclaim and reinvigorate an art that has lost its space in Pakistan's narrowing cultural sphere. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

We cannot confront the massive challenges of poverty, hunger, disease and environmental destruction unless we address issues of population and reproductive health — Thoraya Obaid

Fighting the Taliban and the various radical organizations on the front lines is like adding a Band-Aid to a cut, it may stop the bleeding but unless you clean it with antiseptic, the germs stay and multiply. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

By bringing the voices of the ordinary people faced with extraordinary challenges to television screens around the world, I hope to affect change in one community at a time. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

I'm generally quite an angry person, and I like to channel my anger toward something creative. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

I believe in telling the truth. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

I think perhaps Pakistan can take the lead. Perhaps Turkey can as well, being part of Europe. But someone has to start talking about why the Muslim world has become a boiling pot and look beyond these cartoons to what the ideological reasons are for this divide. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Pakistan destroyed its own reputation. If anything, I have improved Pakistan's image. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

I feel that for the first time in a long time, educated Pakistanis are returning to their country to start up educational projects, to start up businesses, so instead of the brain-drain that happened in the 1950s and 1960s, the country is growing and improving economically. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

When the film and music industries declined in the wake of increasingly conservative Muslim laws and social customs in Pakistan, many of these musicians found themselves out of work. They were brought together at Sachal Studios by Izzat Majeed, who built the studio in order to preserve these musical traditions. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

The news that comes out of Pakistan is always geared toward terrorism and fundamentalism. But when you give people freedom of expression and the freedom to go out and be social and to express themselves, you will see a change. I see that coming about in my country. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

We are reviewing our experience to enable us to respond to the cultural challenge: to help countries, communities and individuals interpret universal principles, translate them into culturally sensitive terms and design programmes based on them, programmes that people can really feel are their own. — Thoraya Obaid

An Academy Award nomination is stuff dreams are made of. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

But the biggest challenge overall was narrowing down the complex narrative elements into a clean and straightforward story while maintaining a sense of the cultural context that makes the film special. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

As filmmakers, you're not working on just one project, you're producing something, directing something, shooting something, and so it becomes hard to do it by yourself. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Thousands of civilians have lost their lives to terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, and thousands more will - because, unlike the Pakistani government, which has no coherent policy to deal with the radicals, the Taliban have one to deal with Pakistan and its citizens. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

The Pakistani government and its allies must overhaul their policies in Pakistan. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

I grew up listening to my grandfather's stories of our musical past. He would often talk about the orchestras that played at concerts and the musicians who played on Sunday evenings on street corners. By the time I grew up in the '80s, all of this was a thing of the past. I lived vicariously through his stories and often wondered what it would have felt like to have been part of his generation. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

I don't think I'll be making documentaries my whole life. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Don't give up your dreams. — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

What good is my parents' wealth and education and upbringing if I'm not contributing to the world? — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy