“‘A Girl from Mogadishu’ is the story of how Ifrah Ahmed came to understand, develop, and employ the most potent of campaign tools — her own true story — and use it to empowering and extraordinary effect,” director Mary McGuckian told us.  “Not only [was it a] healing tool for her own trauma, but in becoming the ‘voice not the victim,’ she contributed to the global campaign to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in a way that medical descriptions and statistical reports could never do.” A trailer for the film offers a glimpse into Ahmed’s journey towards speaking out and demanding change.

The spot sees Ifrah (Aja Naomi King, “How to Get Away with Murder”) fleeing war-torn Somalia and seeking asylum in Ireland. A medical examination reveals the extent of her mutilation as a child, and the memories that surface inspire her to tell her story and become a global activist.

Despite being told that “good girls don’t talk so much,” Ifrah insists, “I will not be silent until girls like me are free of the fear, the pain, the shame — I will not stop.”

“’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,” Ahmed said in a statement. “And 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.”

McGuckian, whose other features include “The Price of Desire” and “The Making of Plus One,” told us, “My hope is that as people leave the theater inspired by Ifrah’s achievements and resilience and that they think about how they can contribute to the global campaign to end this practice. [I want them to] engage in conversation, do some research, spread the word, and thus contribute to raising the profile of the issue sufficiently to require the international NGO community to prioritize the elimination of FGM.”

“A Girl from Mogadishu” opens April 3.