Reflections on "50 Women": Meeting Dr. Zee

While attending the Vacaville Film Festival on December 15, 2010, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Hassan Zee- Producer and Director of the film “Bicycle Bride”.

Standing outside the theater to preview film selections, we started to converse about his film and his experiences working as a Resident Physician at a Hospital Burn unit in the Pakistan countryside.

Here the conversation turned to heavier subjects as he told me about some of the atrocities he witnessed. Many of his burn patients, he explained, were women who had actually set themselves on fire to escape the torturous punishment from their hostile in-laws. In Pakistan, Afghanistan and other Southeast Asian countries, arranged marriages are common and often leave a woman in a compromising position. She is told who she will marry and really has little to no choice in the matter. Women are often married into new families only to be emotionally and physically abused by their new in-laws. Self- immolation, a common practice among non-childbearing wives and wives with low dowry, is defined as a method of attempting suicide by burning. Women in these situations literally light themselves on fire in order to die.

Dr. Zee described to me his experiences of treating self- immolation survivors and how many women he watched perish each day due to severe burns. After this experience and witnessing other abuses against women, Dr. Zee decided to enter the medium of film in order to publicize these occurrences. He came to the USA twelve years ago, he explained to me, on a mission to create films about the plight of women in Asian countries and their fight to gain independence and personal freedom.

His latest film, “Bicycle Bride” was born with from his experiences with arranged marriages. But why a bicycle?

He explained to me in many Islamic countries it is considered sacrilegious for women to ride bicycles and is basically forbidden. He wanted to incorporate that symbol into the film.

During the film festival I watched the coverage of bicycle bride’s premiere event and an interview with Dr. Zee where he shared more memories of his youth in Pakistan and his sensitivity to the lives of Southeast Asian women. He is currently partnering with many women’s non profit groups for city by city screenings across the United States.

Dr. Zee is a sincere and empathetic individual. From conversing with him, I can see that he has witnessed first- hand how certain traditions and customs cause women to suffer immensely. His film is not just entertainment but a way of educating and informing about the custom of arranged marriages.

“Bicycle Bride” provides a comedic, down to earth view of a woman torn between heritage and heart.

http://www.bicyclebride.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj9feetTG3s