Filmmaker ‘Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy’ Represents Pakistan at the Asia 21 New Delhi Summit

November 15, 2011

Critically acclaimed and award winning investigative journalist/filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy is one of the 150 next generation leaders from 30 countries in the Asia Pacific region to participate in the Asia Society’s sixth annual Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit, to be held in New Delhi from November 18 to 20, 2011.  Established by the Asia Society with support from Founding International Sponsor, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the Asia 21 Summit is the pre-eminent gathering of Asia’s most dynamic young leaders from the Asia-Pacific region, from every sector including business, government, media, culture and civil society.  To date, the network counts more than 700 of the most accomplished young leaders in the Asia-Pacific among its members, including businessmen, documentary filmmakers, environmental activists, human rights advocates, members of parliament, military personnel, performance artists, and social entrepreneurs.

At the Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy joins a multi-sectoral network of his peers, all under age 40, who will engage in discussions about “Worlds Apart Together: Shared Values for an Asia-Pacific Community.” The diversity of representation – from business, government, academia, media, civil society, and the arts – brings a wide range of perspectives to the discussions, which will explore issues such as developing a sustainable energy policy for Asia, whether corruption is hampering the region’s development, and whether food security should take precedence over civil rights, amongst others. Indeedthe Asia Society’s Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit is part of a larger initiative designed to help emerging leaders from across the region to develop common approaches to meet its shared challenges.  “The Asia 21 young leaders represent the future of the Asia-Pacific region.  The work that this incredible community of leaders is doing today and will do in the future is laying a strong foundation for regional collaboration for decades to come,” said Asia Society Executive Vice President Jamie Metzl.

Speaking about being selected to represent Pakistan Sharmeen said “I am delighted to represent my country at the Asia 21 Young Leader Summit in India and I look forward to working with representatives from various countries in laying a strong foundation for regional collaboration and leadership for decades to come”

A multi-faceted entrepreneur, Sharmeen started her eponymous film production company Sharmeen Obaid Films in 2006 where she continues to serve as director. Under her leadership, the company has produced over fourteen critically acclaimed films, all of which have been aired across international channels to global audiences including networks such as CNN, CBC, Channel 4, PBS Frontline World, Al Jazeera and HBO. Sharmeen is also the co-founder of Pakistan’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to cultural and historic preservation, The Citizen’s Archive of Pakistan and continues to serve as the company’s President and leading cultural preservationist since its founding in 2007.  As a senior fellow at TED 2011 international, Sharmeen has also been one of the driving forces behind the locally organised Tedx Karachi events in both 2010 and 2011 where she reached out to iconic personalities such as Imran Khan and Mukhataran Mai, to share their stories of inspiration. Over her career, Sharmeen has received diverse international and national awards and accolades for her intrepid filmmaking and to this end, most recently, her film Saving Face has most been shortlisted for an Oscar nomination by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Sharmeen has also been the recipient of an esteemed International Emmy Award for her documentary Pakistan’s Taliban Generation (2010) and is still the first non US citizen to have received the coveted Livingston Award for Best International Reporting under the age of 35 in any medium, print and broadcast. She was also the proud recipient of the YWCA Toronto Women of Distinction award for her services in the field of Communication, making documentaries that touch upon the lives of women in extraordinary situations, from the refugee camps of Afghanistan, to the plight of aboriginal women in Western Canada.