Congratulations Deeyah!
«Banaz – A LOVE STORY» is the story of a murder. At 17 Banaz Mahmod was married to a ten year old man whose family had brought to London from Iraqi Kurdistan. She had met him once, he was illiterate and quickly began to abuse her. Banaz told her family, but they sent her back to her husband. Finally she ran from him. She fell in love with a boy. In the period up to the murder, the Banaz approached the police five times. She said that her life was in danger and explained in detail who would kill her.
DEEYAH´s FILM consists of a series of interviews. She did not get the price for visual innovation, but for telling a harrowing story in an outstanding manner.
How could this happen? How could the police be so ignorant? And what is this «honor» which leads some people to kill their own children? With its selection of interviewees Deeyah has created a documentary that highlights and explains. Several heroic police officers and activists explain in a very informative way what went wrong, who is the culprit and how they solved the case. The film’s scoop and it really cuts to the heart, is the footage from the first time Banaz visits the police: a beautiful, clearly frightened woman who talks about the situation she is in.
When DEEYAH KHAN received the Emmy statuette for best international documentary film in New York last night, it was not the first time her debut film was awarded with a prestigious price. She has already received an American Peabody and was nominated for a journalist price awwwarded by the British Royal Television Society. But Emmy is rated very highly. Norwegian-Pakistani Deeyah has won the TV industry’s Oscar.
