The Language of Silence

An immersive experience in a Pakistani Beauty Salon, where women share their secrets

ROLE

Design Lead

CORE TEAM

Amena Hayat - Director
Heder Hayat - Producer

In Pakistan, the world’s first Islamic nation to appoint a female head of state, only 13 percent of girls are still in school by ninth grade.

The Language of Silence is a mixed reality documentary that reveals stories of real Pakistani women across different socio-economic classes and education levels, who are victims of gender disparity in the country. The project is still under production.

The project was selected by CPH:LAB and UN Women Global Voices VR Film Festival.

Background

The status of gender injustice among Pakistani society differs significantly by community. As a result of this power imbalance that began with education or lack thereof, rampant domestic abuse and a high rate of child marriages and forced marriages still remain. Young girls are forcibly married off to resolve the feuds between different clans. There are 1000 honor killings, 400 acid attacks a year, while punishments meted out to the murderers are very lenient. It is important to note that a vast majority of crimes are never reported. Voicing all this is not safe, however, and silence is the norm.

Define Project Success

The project aims to collect stories, anonymously, from women across multiple sects in Pakistani society, who wanted to share them, as themselves or through an actor.

The goal of the project is to

• form a strong community where people share similar experiences can support each other.

• be shown in schools and educational institutions in Pakistan.

• get selected by documentary/immersive media festivals to increase topic’s exposure.

• collect donations to help non-profit organizations in Pakistan.

We hope this project will help educate, enlighten, and empower audiences about intersectional feminism, the terror caused by honor narratives in developing countries, and the effects of poverty on gender discrimination. We also hope the project can financially help organizations who are fighting gender injustice in developing countries.

Design Principles

01

Anonymous Story Collection

Due to the sensitive nature of the stories, it is essential to protect people’s identity.

02

Balanced Power Dynamic

To explore and interact in the experience, players need to acquire permission from characters. The power dynamic between the player and the characters must be well balanced.

03

Dynamic User Journey

Build lighter moments into a segmented structure in a heavy experience. This gives the player time to pause, to shake off sadness.

04

Present a Solusion, Not Just Nightmares

Rather than merely presenting other people's nightmares, we expect this project to be more educational and help the audience to understand the solution we are proposing - education.

Distribution Plan

• For audience outside of Pakistan (primarily U.S., Europe)

VR Experience that allows users to walk around, targeting immersive film/documentary festivals

• For audience inside of Pakistan

Website  / Mobile VR, targeting education institutions