Media News
New Delhi, February 23, 2009
For one special moment at last nights Oscar ceremony, amidst hundreds of A-list stars, all eyes were on Pinki, the 8-year-old subject of the documentary Smile Pinki, as she stepped onstage to accept the award for best documentary short. The captivating story of a desperately poor little girl in rural India whose life is magically transformed when she receives free surgery to correct her cleft lip highlights the work of American charity Smile Train, a charity devoted to providing free cleft palate/cleft lip surgery to children in 76 developing countries around the world.
The star of the film is Pinki, a then 5-year-old girl who was living with a severe cleft in one of the poorest areas of India. Not allowed to attend school and ostracized because of her deformity, Pinki lived a life of quiet desperation as she waited and wondered if she would ever receive the cleft surgery her parents could never afford and that she so desperately needed. By chance, one day Pinkis parents met a social worker working for The Smile Train who was traveling village to village, gathering patients for a hospital that provides free cleft surgery to thousands of poor children each year through the Smile Train program. Told in a vibrant verite-style, rich with nuance and complexity, the film follows its wide-eyed protagonist on a journey from isolation to embrace.
Smile Pinki sheds light on the global problem of cleft lip and cleft palate. According to Smile Train, more than 4.7 million children in developing countries suffer with unrepaired clefts. Each child could be saved, just like Pinki, with a simple surgery that takes as little as 45 minutes and costs as little as $250.
Each cleft surgery we perform is a modern-day medical miracle, said Dr. Subodh Kumar Singh, the Smile Train surgeon who operated on Pinki at GS Memorial Hospital in Varanasi, India. This film captures the power of this incredible transformation. This surgery gives these children not just a new smile, but a second chance at life.
I am so honored to have this award and am so happy we could bring Pinki and her family could be here for this amazing experience. >From the beginning I was excited to tell the story of this charity and the incredible work their doctors and hospitals are doing in some of the poorest places in the world, said filmmaker Megan Mylan. The Smile Train strategy of empowering local doctors instead of flying in teams of American doctors was one of the things that attracted me to this story. And of course, seeing firsthand how these childrens lives are instantly changed forever by this simple little surgery was something I will never forget. It is not often you can see a miracle take place right before your eyes in under an hour.
The film tells just one story of the hundreds of children we help every single day around the world, said Brian Mullaney, Co-Founder and President of The Smile Train. We hope with this prestigious award we can gain more recognition and exposure, which will help us raise awareness so that we can provide life-changing surgery for every child in the world who needs it no matter where they live or how poor they may be. The Smile Train will not stop until we reach that goal.
For further information, please contact:
Smile Train
Alexis Thomas
Public Relations Manager
E-mail: athomas@smiletrain.org
Tel: (212) 689-9199
Vaishnavi Corporate Communications
Alka Rawat
E-mail: alka.raswat@vccpl.com
Mobile: 9717744203
/afaqs/media/member_avatars/b19bc90752f22463c21493ea40ad04dd26b32ea4045d163717734c0181e00e52.png )
Follow Us/afaqs/media/agency_attachments/2024-10-10t065829449z-afaqs_640x480.png)
