To celebrate International Women’s Day, A Girl From Mogadishu will be available from today online on IFI@HOME and Volta platforms
Posted: 8th March 2021
To celebrate International Women’s Day 2021, Eclipse Pictures are delighted to announce that multi award-winning A Girl from Mogadishu will be available to view online on both the IFI@HOME and Volta platforms, along with bonus material consisting of the high level international panel discussion, chaired by Irish Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason to the United Nations, recorded during the 2020 16 days of activism. Speakers include the UNFPA executive director UNFPA, Dr Natalia Kanem, the UNFPA country director for Somalia Anders Thomsen, Dr Susan Gibbs of the Wallace Global Foundation, the film’s director Mary McGuckian, composer Nitin Sawhney CBE and Ifrah Ahmed herself.
“International Women’s Day 2021’s theme is ‘Choose to Challenge. I can’t think of a more empowering role model on this theme than Ireland’s own Ifrah Ahmed and so I couldn’t be more delighted that the Irish Film Institute and Volta have chosen this auspicious day to release A Girl from Mogadishu online in Ireland.” - Mary McGuckian, Director
Ifrah Ahmed said: “A Girl from Mogadishu is based on my story - but it is also the story of the 200 million women and girls worldwide who have suffered the consequences of Female Genital Mutilation. While the movie is intended to focus attention on the barbarity and scale of the practice, its ambition is also to empower all young women and girls to have the courage to stand up and speak out.”
- IFI@HOME - https://www.ifihome.ie/film/a-girl-from-mogadishu/
- Volta - https://www.volta.ie/#!/browse/film/73429/a-girl-from-mogadishu-panel-discussion
The President of Ireland said: “A Girl from Mogadishu is … a powerful story of courage, hope and remarkable determination.”
Winner of the Cinema for Peace Women’s Empowerment Award at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival, this powerful and inspiring film is based on the true story of global gender based violence activist, Ifrah Ahmed.
Fleeing war-torn Somalia in 2006 for the United States, Ifrah is trafficked to Dublin, Ireland where she applies for asylum. A traumatic medical examination reveals the extent of her mutilation as a child. Traumatised by the memory, she channels the experience into a force for change and emerges as a formidable campaigner against Female Genital Mutilation at the highest political echelons in Ireland, Europe and globally.
Starring Aja Naomi King (How to Get Away with Murder) as Ifrah Ahmed and Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips) along with Orla Brady (Picard, Rose Plays Julie) and Somali icon, Maryam Mursal the film boasts an original score by Nitin Sawhney and its title track also features Quiet by Milck, the unofficial anthem of the 2017 USA Women’s March. Based on the recorded testimony of activist Ifrah Ahmed, it is written and directed by Mary McGuckian.
Also recipient of the Mill Valley 42nd edition World Cinema Award in the US, A Girl from Mogadishu has picked up a host of audience and jury awards during its international film festival run.
The Ifrah Foundation is a registered charity in Ireland and Somalia works on the elimination of FGM in Somalia and beyond through sustained engagement with strategic partners, including governments, private foundations and international governmental organisations including the UNFPA in the actions areas of advocacy, awareness and community empowerment