Nisha Pahuja’s ‘To Kill a Tiger’ wins Oscar nomination 

“To Kill a Tiger,” a film set in a small Indian village, by Indo-Canadian director Nisha Pahuja has been nominated for the Oscar for Documentary Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

A co-production of Pahuja’s Notice Pictures and National Film Board of Canada (NFB), the film tells the story of Ranjit, a farmer in Jharkhand, India, who fights for justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the survivor of sexual assault.

In India, where rape is reported every 20 minutes and conviction rates are less than 30 percent, Ranjit’s decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey is unprecedented.

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“I am beyond thrilled that To Kill a Tiger has been nominated for an Academy Award,” Pahuja stated in a press release.“This is an extraordinary honor for the creative team behind this eight-year journey, and it’s a testament to the tireless group of women working outside the normal ecosystem to ensure this story is seen and does what it needs to in the world.”

“We’re here, at this moment, because a farmer in India, his wife and their 13-year-old daughter had the courage to demand her human rights,” She added. “It is our hope and intent that this film will encourage other survivors to seek justice and that men stand with us in our fight for gender equality.”

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The nomination is the latest honor for To Kill a Tiger, which to date has received over 20 Canadian and international awards.

Pahuja is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker based in Toronto. Her latest film, To Kill a Tiger, had its world premiere at TIFF, where it won the Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film.

Since then, it has won over 20 awards, including Best Documentary Feature at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and three Canadian Screen Awards.

The film grew out of a long career of addressing various human rights issues, notably violence against women in India, according to the release.

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In 2015, Pahuja won an Amnesty International Media Award for Canadian journalism after making a short film about the Delhi bus gang rape for Global News.

Her other past credits include the multi-award-winning The World Before Her (2012; Best Documentary Feature, Jury Award winner, Tribeca Film Festival; Best Canadian Documentary, Hot Docs; TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten; Best Documentary nominee, Canadian Screen Awards), the series Diamond Road (2008; Gemini Award for Best Documentary Series) and the NFB documentary Bollywood Bound (2002; Gemini Award nominee).

The 96th Academy Awards will be held on March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.