“THE PRICE OF HONOR” A FILM BY NEENA NEJAD AND XOEL PAMOS

Being an activist for Women’s Rights and a recent participant in the award-winning documentary Honor Diaries, anything related to the issue of honor based violence is compelling. So when I heard about the film The Price of Honor, I was intrigued, especially because the two sisters, about whom the film is made, were mentioned in Honor Diaries so I had some familiarity with the case.
However being Canadian, I didn’t know the exact details. When I was given the privilege of seeing The Price of Honor, I could not sleep for a week. I had just finished reading The Seven Perfumes of Sacrifice by Amy Logan who is also involved in the making of The Price of Honor, so the issue was fresh in my mind.
The Price of Honor is a documentary film about the murders of Amina and Sarah Said, teenage sisters from Lewisville, Texas, who were killed in a premeditated “honor killing” in 2008. The film shows the lives of the sisters and the path to their eventual murders by their own father, Yaser Said, who fled the crime scene and remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
Producers of the film Neena Nejad and Xoel Pamos have taken this case beyond just a documentary about the lives of the two sisters. The film is also an investigative film in which both producers have pushed the envelope to undercover the reasons behind the honor killing as well as fill the gap left by law enforcement agencies. The fascinating part about The Price of Honor is that the in-depth interviews of everyone surrounding the lives of Sarah and Amina Said are closely and cleverly woven into the film, leaving no doubt in the viewer’s mind as to who the culprits are where the problem lies. However the viewer also senses the frustration of those who loved the girls and could not get answers.
The film reveals details and evidence that were not available at the time of the investigation into the death of the two sisters. Interwoven into the film is the love story of Amina and her voice as so much about her life is revealed. There are powerful images and voices and it leaves the viewer breathless and angry for justice.
And justice is exactly what The Price of Honor is about. It’s about launching a movement to find the killer and put the souls of the murdered sisters to rest.
“The film’s additional mission is to bring awareness to this international issue of honor violence, expose law enforcement’s mismanagement of the Said case, and raise the bar for how honor violence is handled by police in the U.S. henceforth.” (Excerpted from the Price of Honor website)
“www.thepriceofhonorfilm.com”