Pakistan Acid Attack Film Highlights Growing Social Problem

Saving Face, a Pakistani documentary about acid attack victims, has taken Hollywood by storm.

The film chronicles the work of British Pakistani plastic surgeon Mohamed Jawad as he made regular trips to his homeland to treat acid victims.

Pakistan's first Oscar winner, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and co-director Daniel Junge received the award for best documentary in the short-subject category.

While the documentary has attracted much media attention around the world, Obaid-Chinoy announced the team behind the film would launch an awareness campaign about acid attacks.

Efforts would also focus on strengthening legislation against domestic violence in Pakistan, she added.

"The film must be more than an expose of horrendous crimes, it must be a recipe for addressing the problem and a hope for the future," Junge, wrote on the official website www.savingfacefilm.com.

More than 100 people, mostly women and girls, are victims of acid attacks every year in Pakistan but activists said many cases still go unreported.

The attacks were "one of the worst forms of domestic violence and are most often directed against women but children are often collateral damage and men may also be among the victims", said acidsurvivorfoundation , an organisation that supports acid attacks victims in Pakistan.

"The effects of acid violence include serious physical harm (loss of eyes and limbs, corrosion of organs, and subsequent infections such as septicaemia and gangrene). Acid survivors are disfigured for life", the organisation explained.

In addition to psychological and physical trauma, survivors often face social isolation and ostracism.

Fear of social exclusion or even revenge means the issue is not often publicly discussed. Saving Face has been hailed by the Pakistani press and government for bringing the issue into the open.