''A Girl from Mogadishu'' is an Irish-Belgian film. It is a somewhat fictionalized story based on the testimony of Ifrah Ahmed, who having escaped war-torn Somalia, emerged as one of the world’s foremost international activists against gender-based violence. Filming in Belgium commenced October 18, 2017 and was completed in Ireland and Morocco. The film stars Aja Naomi King as Ifrah, Martha Canga Antonio,

Barkhad Abdi Barkhad Abdi ( so, Barkhad Cabdi; born April 10, 1985) is a Somali-American actor. He made his acting debut as Somali pirate Abduwali Muse in the biographical drama film '' Captain Phillips'' (2013), which earned him a British Academy Film Awar ...

, and Maryam Mursals. Winner of the 2020 Cinema for Peace Women's Empowerment Award.

Plot

Born into a refugee camp in war-torn Somalia, Ifrah is trafficked to Ireland as a teenager. Recounting her traumatic childhood experiences of

female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...

when applying for refugee status, she is re-traumatised and vows to devote her life to the eradication of the practice. Taking her campaign all the way to the President of Ireland and finally to the European Parliament and United Nations. ''A Girl from Mogadishu'' celebrates the power of testimony, for when women find the courage to stand-up, speak out, and tell their truth, the impact can be so inspiring and empowering that act as a meaningful catalyst for change.

Production

The film is a Pembridge (Ireland) and Umedia (Belgium) production, with production services provided by Dune Film Productions in Morocco. Post-production took place at Windmill Pictures in Dublin and Umedia VFX in Brussels. Principal photography began in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in October 2017. The film was also shot in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

in 2018.

Reception

The film was released during COVID to positive reviews and has an 80% positive rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. It won both the Audience and Jury Awards at the Semaine de Cinema Britannique, the World Cinema Audience Award at the

Mill Valley Film Festival The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual American film festival founded in 1977. History In October 1977, Mark Fishkin, Rita Cahill and Lois Cole organized a three-day film festival. It featured three film tributes, Francis Ford Coppola's ''T ...

and the

Cinema for Peace The Cinema for Peace Foundation is a registered, non-profit organization based in Berlin, Germany. It supports film-based projects dealing with global humanitarian and environmental issues, and coordinates the Cinema for Peace awards. History T ...

Award for Women's Empowerment during the 2020

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

. The film is available in most English Speaking Territories and was released on

SHOWTIME Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

in the US, VOLTA and IFI in the UK and on

SKY The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

in the UK. It is also available on

AMAZON PRIME Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...

in the US and on

APPLE TV An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

in the UK.

Cast

Aja Naomi King Aja Naomi King (; born January 11, 1985) is an American actress. She played Michaela Pratt in ''How to Get Away with Murder''. She began her career in guest-starring roles on television, and starred as Cassandra Kopelson in The CW medical comedy ...

as Ifrah Ahmed * Martha Canga Antonio as Amala *

as Hassan *

Maryam Mursal Maryam Mursal ( so, Maryan Mursal, ar, مريم مرسل) (born 1 January 1950) is a Somali composer and vocalist. Biography Mursal grew up in Somalia in a Muslim family with four daughters. Mursal's family was originally from Somaliland, and ...

as Grandmother *

Maggie O'Kane Maggie O'Kane is an Irish journalist and documentary film maker. She has been most associated with ''The Guardian'' newspaper where she was a foreign correspondent who filed graphic stories from Sarajevo while it was under siege between 1992 and ...

as Catherine Riley *

Niall Buggy Niall is a male given name of Irish origin. The original meaning of the name is unknown, but popular modern sources have suggested that it means "champion" (derived from the Old Irish word ''niadh''),. According to John Ryan, Professor of Early an ...

Michael D. Higgins Michael Daniel Higgins ( ga, Mícheál Dónal Ó hUigínn; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since November 2011. Entering national politics throug ...

Stanley Townsend Stanley Townsend (born August 1961) is an Irish actor. Personal life Townsend was born and brought up in Dublin. After attending Wesley College, Dublin, he studied mathematics and civil engineering at Trinity College. While there he joined the ...

as Joe Costello *

Orla Brady Orla Brady (born 28 March 1961) is an Irish theatre, television, and film actress born in Dublin. She has been nominated for several awards from the Irish Film & Television Academy for her work in televised programs, as well as starring in the ...

as Emer Costello

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Girl from Mogadishu, A 2019 films 2019 biographical drama films Belgian biographical drama films 2010s English-language films Films set in Somalia Films set in Ireland Films shot in Morocco Films shot in the Republic of Ireland Films shot in Belgium