2019 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film.

We open on a short statement of what the viewer will be seeing is a true story, while in the background we notice a woman getting ready in a recording studio. Then the screen goes black. And thereafter only the woman's voice is heard, and we don't see anything. The woman starts narrating how people regarded her as beautiful through her life, and compared her face to various beautiful metaphors. Until one day, when her husband throws acid on her face, which melts it to a point that people then cruelly started telling her that she has "a face for radio."

Cultural/Context information for the jury

Thousands of women and children are the victims of acid attacks in Pakistan. The aim of perpetrators is to disfigure rather than murder their victims, the reasoning behind this being the belief that a woman's face is her most valuable asset. Depilex is a beauty salon with a foundation dedicated to helping survivors recover from their trauma, to provide them medical care and rehabilitation, and to help them regain the confidence to face society again. The foundation depends on charitable donations, and raises awareness of the situation. The narrator of our spot is an actual acid attack survivor. The story shared is true: her husband threw acid on her face the day she told him she had found a job as a stewardess for an airline. She lost her job as she couldn't face the public. What she could do, however, is narrate a radio spot.

Tell the jury about the casting process.

The casting process for this radio commercial is the concept in itself: we chose to cast an actual acid attack victim who had lost her job due to not being able to show her face. Kanwal had been hired as an air hostess when her husband threw acid on her face to deter her from taking the job. Following devastating injuries to her face, Kanwal was at one point told that she now had the face for radio. So we let her beautiful voice tell the horrific story, and communicate the shame and pain that acid attack victims live with everyday.