Smile Pinki

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Smile Pinki
Smile Pinki.jpg
Directed by Megan Mylan
Produced byMegan Mylan
CinematographyNick Doob
Jon Shenk
Edited byPurcell Carson
Music by R. Prasanna
Production
company
Principe Productions
Distributed by Smile Train
HBO (TV)
Release date
  • 2008 (2008)
Running time
39 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language Bhojpuri/Hindi

Smile Pinki is a 2008 American documentary film directed by Megan Mylan. [1] [2] which won the 81st Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). The film depicts the story of Pinki and Ghutaru, two children in rural India who receive corrective surgery for cleft lips.

Contents

Overview

Pinki had a unilateral complete cleft lip. Cleftlip2.svg
Pinki had a unilateral complete cleft lip.

Pinki Sonkar is a five-year-old girl who is living with a severe cleft lip in one of the poorest areas of India. Not allowed to attend school at her native Rampur Dhabahi village in Mirzapur, near Varanasi, [3] and ostracised because of her deformity, Pinki lives a life of quiet desperation. By chance, Pinki's parents meet Pankaj, a social worker who is traveling village to village, gathering patients for a hospital that provides free cleft lip surgery to thousands of poor children each year through The Smile Train program.

The successful surgery was performed at G.S. Memorial Hospital, by plastic surgeon Dr. Subodh Kumar Singh, who along with Pinki attended the 81st Academy Awards ceremony. [4] [5] [6] In India the film generated national attention with a theatrical, media and community screening campaign to build public health awareness and support for clefts. The film was broadcast on HBO, [7] Sundance Channel and Doordarshan and 8 million free DVDs were distributed. Pinki was invited to toss the coin for the men's singles final at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, London. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleft lip and cleft palate</span> Medical condition

A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate occurs when the palate contains an opening into the nose. The term orofacial cleft refers to either condition or to both occurring together. These disorders can result in feeding problems, speech problems, hearing problems, and frequent ear infections. Less than half the time the condition is associated with other disorders.

Operation Smile is a nonprofit medical service organization founded in 1982 by William P. Magee Jr. and his wife Kathleen (Kathy) S. Magee. It is headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smile Train</span>

Smile Train is a nonprofit organization and charity providing corrective surgery for children with cleft lips and palates. Headquartered in New York City and founded in 1999, Smile Train provides free corrective cleft surgery in 87 countries, training local doctors and providing hospital funding for the procedures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Encephalocele</span> Neural tube defect in which the brain protrudes out of the skull

Encephalocele is a neural tube defect characterized by sac-like protrusions of the brain and the membranes that cover it through openings in the skull. These defects are caused by failure of the neural tube to close completely during fetal development. Encephaloceles cause a groove down the middle of the skull, or between the forehead and nose, or on the back side of the skull. The severity of encephalocele varies, depending on its location.

ReSurge International, formerly known as Interplast, is an international humanitarian organization that provides free reconstructive surgery in developing countries, primarily to children with cleft lip and palate and burn scar contractures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">81st Academy Awards</span> Award ceremony for films of 2008

The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2008 and took place on February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24 categories. The ceremony was televised in the United States by ABC, and was produced by Bill Condon and Laurence Mark and directed by Roger Goodman. Hugh Jackman hosted the show for the first time. Two weeks earlier in a ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California held on February 7, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Jessica Biel.

William P. Magee Jr. an American plastic and craniofacial surgeon, founded Operation Smile in 1982, with his wife, Kathleen S. Magee, B.S.N., M.Ed., M.S.W., and serves as the organization's Chief Executive Officer. Operation Smile is a private, non-profit volunteer medical services organization providing reconstructive surgery and related health care to indigent children and young adults in developing countries and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smile Angel Foundation</span>

Smile Angel Foundation is a Beijing-based charity founded in 2006 by Li Yapeng and Faye Wong to help Chinese children born with clefts. It is affiliated with the Red Cross Society of China. The foundation is named after the couple's daughter, Li Yan, who was born in the same year with severe clefts and underwent corrective surgery in the United States.

<i>The Final Inch</i> 2009 American film

The Final Inch is a short documentary about the effort to eradicate polio. It was directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky and focuses on health workers on the front lines of the fight to eliminate the disease. It was filmed on location in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India and received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Documentary at the 81st Academy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megan Mylan</span> American documentary film director

Megan Mylan is an American documentary film director, known for her films Simple as Water, Lost Boys of Sudan and Smile Pinki.

Sharad Kumar Dixit was an Indian born American plastic surgeon and the founder of The India Project, a social initiative for free treatment of plastic surgery for the financially compromised people. A multiple nominee for Nobel Peace prize, he was honored by the Government of India, in 2001, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.

The Overseas Plastic Surgery Appeal is a registered charity in the UK, that exists to provide free facial surgery for poor children and young adults in Pakistan. The OPSA team operate on facial abnormalities including cleft lip and palate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravindra Laxman Thatte</span>

Dr. Ravin Laxman Thatte is a doyen a professor in the field of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, a teacher to most plastic surgeons in India, an Indian philosopher and an active environmentalist.

This is a list of people bearing the surname Sonkar.

Hirji Sorab Adenwalla was an Indian missionary who joined the Jubilee Mission in Kerala, India, as a surgeon. Adenwalla turned what was originally a small dispensary into a 1500-bedded medical college and research institute called the Jubilee Mission Medical College. Adenwalla specialized in cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries, providing treatment at low or no cost to more than 21,000 patients. Adenwalla contributed several new techniques to the cleft lip surgery, such as a method to avoid a vermillion notch, a protocol for cleft lip nose correction in unilateral cleft lips, and a procedure for septal repositioning.

Jon Shenk is an Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated documentary film director and director of photography, known for his films Lead Me HomeAthlete A, An Inconvenient Sequel, Audrie & Daisy,The Island President, Lost Boys of Sudan. He is the co-founder, with his wife Bonni Cohen, of Actual Films, a documentary film company based in San Francisco, CA. He co-directed and photographed Lead Me Home which premiered in 2021 at the Telluride Film Festival, was acquired by Netflix, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2022.

<i>Simple as Water</i> 2021 American documentary by Megan Mylan

Simple as Water is a 2021 American documentary film by Oscar-winning director Megan Mylan. The film documents Syrian families across five countries, revealing the impact of war, separation, and displacement. The film is a meditation on the elemental bonds of family told through portraits of four Syrian families in the aftermath of war. Simple as Water premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 20, 2021. It was released on November 16, 2021, on HBO Max.

Sr. Dr. Justina Geraldine Najjuka is a Ugandan religious sister, author and plastic surgeon. She was the first African Roman Catholic nun to become a surgeon in East and Central Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nandita P. Palshetkar</span> Indian gynaecologist and medical doctor

Nandita P. Palshetkar is an Indian Gynecologist who specializes in in vitro fertilisation and infertility. She is the elected president of Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India, in 2019. She is also the first vice president of Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India.

References

  1. Megan Mylan--'Smile Pinki' documentary.org
  2. Wall Street Journal Good News From the Real World.
  3. Pinki leaves for Oscar ceremony The Times of India , 17 February 2009.
  4. New York Times Carpetbagger in LA Pinki.
  5. Smile Pinki wins best short Oscar BBC News .
  6. An Oscar completes Pinki's smile Rediff.com .
  7. Huffington Post "Smile Pinki on HBO
  8. "Proud moment for Pinki Sonkar". The Hindu. 2013-07-08. Retrieved 2013-07-10.