“How to Get Away With Murder’s” Aja Naomi King is bringing Ifrah Ahmed’s story to the big screen. Deadline reports that the NAACP-nominated actress is starring in “A Girl From Mogadishu,” a drama based on Ahmed’s fight to end gender-based violence. Mary McGuckian (“The Price Of Desire”) penned the script and is directing.
“Ahmed was born into a refugee camp in Somalia in 2006 and emigrated to Ireland as a teenager,” the source writes. “Recounting her traumatic childhood experiences of female genital mutilation [FGM] 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.”
Principal photography has begun on the film. The Pembridge Pictures and Umedia project is currently filming in Belgium, and will later shoot in Ireland and Morocco.
McGuckian described Ahmed as “an immensely inspiring person” and emphasized that “her story speaks to all of refugee status, sexual violence in conflict, gender based violence, the asylum system as well as FGM.” She added, “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.”
Check out a video of Ahmed discussing FGM below. “Professionals need to know about FGM so they can protect women,” she says. You can also read a first-hand account over at The Guardian, where she addresses her efforts to change mothers’ perspectives of the practice. “[Some] mothers still believe that FGM is a generational tradition and some are convinced that girls go through a religious experience with it,” she explains.
