Preview: Smile Pinki, 2009 Oscar Winner, Premieres on HBO June 3

Smile Pinki, the small (39 minutes) film with a huge heart that won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 2009, has its broadcast premiere on HBO on June 3. Mark it as a must see!

In it, filmmaker Megan Mylan follows several impoverished children in rural India as they apply to a charitable organization called The Smile Train for free surgeries to correct birth defects--severe cleft lips and palettes--that have marred their faces and scarred their lives since their births. Apparently cleft lips and palettes are commonplace afflictions among the poor in India, where they prevent thousands of kids from leading normal childhoods--they can't go to school, don't playing with other children, have difficulty eating and, most devastating, cannot smile.

Pinki, the film's lead character, is an adorable, vivacous and determined gamine who's recruited for and bravely undergoes the surgical procedure that will miraculously change her life.

Smile Pinki plays like an entertaining narrative feature in that it introduces you to compelling characters who have you rooting hard for them to find their way through devastating adversity and hardship. But, since everything in the film is pure cinema verite, you know that these kids, their families, and the teams of doctors who find and treat them are genuinely heroic.

Smile Pinki also introduces you to a charity that's very deserving of your support. The film will convince you that The Smile Train is a progressive and very moving vehicle that you'd like to hop aboard and ride, helping it to deliver relief to children not only in India, but around the world.

(PHOTO: Pinki Studies Herself In A Mirror. Courtesy HBO).