Two-time Academy Award winning director, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy released her newest animated film titled, Sitara: Let Girls Dream, which is playing in theatres in New York. The film is produced entirely in Pakistan under the banner of Chinoy’s animation company, Waadi Animations. The story revolves around a 14-year-old Pari, who dreams of becoming a pilot. The film throws light on the very sensitive and problematic issue of child marriages and it is high time masses single it out as a curse. The silent film is told through the eyes of Mehr who is Pari’s younger sister. The story gets its jolt when Pari is married off at a tender age shattering her biggest dreams of becoming a pilot. It is an intense story reflecting the struggles of girls in an intolerant and often suffocating society which throttles their dreams. It depicts how women are often treated as a burden. “For me, Sitara is more than a film, it is a movement that we want to start across the world, that encourages parents to invest in their girls’ dreams, encouraging them to free their girls from the burdens of early marriage,” says Chinoy. The music of the film is composed by Emmy award winning composer Laura Karpman, and recorded and mixed at the world’s most famous and iconic studio, Abbey Road studios. Having said that, the movie’s executive producers include Gloria Steinem, the iconic women’s rights activist, and Darla Anderson, the Academy Award winning producer of Coco and Toy Story 3.