DEADLINE — EXCLUSIVE: Principal photography has begun on Pembridge Pictures and Umedia’s A Girl From Mogadishu starring How To Get Away With Murder‘s Aja Naomi King. The female empowerment film is a true 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. Mary McGuckian (The Price Of Desire) is directing and wrote the script. Filming is underway in Belgium before moving to Ireland and Morocco. Check out a first-look photo of King as Ahmed above.
Martha Canga Antonio (Black) and Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips) also star with Somali icon, Maryam Mursals.
Ahmed was born into a refugee camp in Somalia in 2006 and emigrated to Ireland as a teenager. Recounting her traumatic childhood experiences of female genital mutilation when applying for refugee status, she is re-traumatized 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.
McGuckian calls Ahmed “just an immensely inspiring person and her story speaks to all of refugee status, sexual violence in conflict, gender based violence, the asylum system as well as FGM. Fundamentally, A Girl From Mogadishu celebrates the power of testimony. How, when women find the courage to stand-up, speak out and tell their truth, the impact can be more than inspiring and empowering, and act as a meaningful catalyst for change.”
A Girl From Mogadishu is a Pembridge (Ireland) and Umedia (Belgium) production, with production services provided by Dune Film Productions in Morocco. Post-production will take place at Windmill Studios, Dublin and Umedia VFX, Brussels.
Produced by McGuckian and Umedia CEO Adrian Politowski, Headgear & Metrol Technology present in association with Premier Picture and The Exchange, a co-production with U Media and Screen Brussels, produced in association with Bord Scannán na hÉireann (The Irish Film Board).
Executive producers are Tom Harberd, Phil Hunt and Compton Ross for Headgear; Anastasia Garret, Jason Garret and David Rogers for Premier Picture; Peter Bevan, Nadia Khamlichi, Tatjana Kozar and Gilles Waterkeyn for Umedia; Lesley McKimm for the Irish Film Board; Brian O’Shea for The Exchange; and Ifrah Foundation board members, Emma Beanland and Caroline Keeling.
The Somali government has fired two top security officials after twin blasts and a siege left at least 27 people dead on...
Police say more than 20 people, including government officials, are thought to be trapped inside a hotel in Somalia’s capital where security forces...
German courts have sentenced numerous German nationals for joining foreign Islamist militants in recent years. Abshir A. and Ozkan C. have been...
China will continue to participate in escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia to protect the international lane,...
Kampala- President Museveni has told United States officials that Uganda is ready to deploy 5,000 additional troops to bolster military operations of...
Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre on Thursday met the injured victims of of the recent Mogadishu blast who have been receiving...
Somali government troops and their African Union allies are preparing a large-scale offensive against al-Shabab militants, according to multiple witnesses and government...
