A Girl from Mogadishu
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GFM Film Productions Direct Activity Company A GIRL FROM MOGADISHU Draft Production Notes For further information please contact: Kate Bowe Communications [email protected] +353 1 652 0143 +353 86 267 5018 GFM Film Productions DAC Directors: Mary McGuckian Garrett McGuckian 29, Herbert Street, Dublin 2, Ireland Registered Company Number: 596124 Tax Number: 3451384S GFM Film Productions Direct Activity Company Table of Contents Production Information ........................................................................................................................ 3 The Cast .................................................................................................................................................... 4 The Production Team ............................................................................................................................ 4 The Testimony of Ifrah Ahmed .......................................................................................................... 5 Bringing Ifrah's story to the screen .................................................................................................. 8 Casting ................................................................................................................................................... 10 The Production .................................................................................................................................... 15 Lights, camera, Ahmed! ................................................................................................................... 18 A Dedicated Follower of Fashion ................................................................................................. 20 Ifrah's Campaign ................................................................................................................................ 21 THE CHARACTERS ............................................................................................................................ 24 Aja Naomi King on Ifrah Ahmed ............................................................................................................. 24 Martha Canga Antonio on Amala .......................................................................................................... 24 Barkhad Abdi on Hassan ............................................................................................................................ 25 Pauline McLynn on the Social Worker ................................................................................................... 25 Stanley Townsend on Joe Costello .......................................................................................................... 25 Orla Brady on Emer Costello .................................................................................................................... 26 BIOGRAPHIES ..................................................................................................................................... 27 AJA NAOMI KING ...................................................................................................................................... 27 MARTHA CANGA ANTONIO ................................................................................................................. 27 BARKHAD ABDI ............................................................................................................................................ 28 ORLA BRADY .................................................................................................................................................. 28 MARYAM MURSAL ...................................................................................................................................... 29 PAULINE MCLYNN ...................................................................................................................................... 29 STANLEY TOWNSEND ............................................................................................................................... 30 MARY MCGUCKIAN – WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER ............................................................. 31 ADRIAN POLITOWSKI – PRODUCER .................................................................................................. 31 MICHAEL LAVELLE – CINEMATOGRAPHER ...................................................................................... 32 EMMANUELLE PUCCI – PRODUCTION DESIGNER ........................................................................ 32 NATHALIE LEBORGNE - COSTUME DESIGNER ............................................................................... 33 NITIN SAWHNEY – MUSIC COMPOSER ............................................................................................ 33 PRODUCTION COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES .............................................................................. 34 GFM Film Productions DAC Directors: Mary McGuckian Garrett McGuckian 29, Herbert Street, Dublin 2, Ireland Registered Company Number: 596124 Tax Number: 3451384S GFM Film Productions Direct Activity Company A GIRL FROM MOGADISHU Production Information A GIRL FROM MOGADISHU is a true story based on the testimony of Ifrah Ahmed, an Irish-Somali activist. In this female empowerment film, Ahmed (Aja Naomi King) escapes war-torn Somalia as a teenager. With the help of a human trafficker (Barkhad Abdi), she finds refuge in Ireland where she vows to devote her life to stopping the practice of female genital mutilation. With allies that include her friend Amala (Martha Canga Antonio), and Irish politicians Emer and Joe Costello (Orla Brady and Stanley Townsend), Ahmed embarks on a quest to bring her campaign to a global stage. A GIRL FROM MOGADISHU is written and directed by Mary McGuckian (The Price of Desire, Intervention). McGuckian is co-producing with Umedia CEO Adrian Politowski (The Artist, Mandy). Executive producers are: Tom Harberd, Phil Hunt and Compton Ross for Head Gear Films (Mary Shelley); Anastasia Garrett, Jason Garrett and David Rogers for Premiere Picture (First Reformed); Peter Bevan, Nadia Khamlichi, Tatjana Kozar and Gilles Waterkeyn for Umedia; Lesley McKimm for Screen Ireland; Brian O’Shea for The Exchange; and Ifrah Foundation board members, Emma Beanland and Caroline Keeling. The motion picture stars Aja Naomi King (The Birth of a Nation, How to Get Away with Murder) as Ifrah Ahmed. Martha Canga Antonio (Black) and Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips, Blade Runner 2049) also star with Somali icon Maryam Mursals. Irish cast include Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Angela's Ashes), Orla Brady (Fringe, Into the Badlands), and Stanley Townsend (The Libertine, Happy-Go-Lucky). Key crew include director of photography Michael Lavelle (Cardboard Gangsters), production designer Emma Pucci (RED 2), costume designer Nathalie Leborgne (Mr. Nobody). Music is composed by Nitin Sawhney (Breathe, Mowgli). A GIRL FROM MOGADISHU is a Pembridge (Ireland) and Umedia (Belgium) production, with production services provided by Dune Film Productions in Morocco. Post-production took place at Windmill Studios, Dublin, and Umedia VFX, Brussels. Filming took place in Belgium, Ireland and Morocco. GFM Film Productions DAC Directors: Mary McGuckian Garrett McGuckian 29, Herbert Street, Dublin 2, Ireland Registered Company Number: 596124 Tax Number: 3451384S GFM Film Productions Direct Activity Company The Cast Ifrah Ahmed AJA NAOMI KING Amala MARTHA CANGA ANTONIO Hassan BARKHAD ABDI Emer Costello ORLA BRADY Joe Costello STANLEY TOWNSEND Social worker PAULINE MCLYNN Grandmother MARYAM MURSAL The Production Team Writer and Director MARY MCGUCKIAN Producers MARY MCGUCKIAN, ADRIAN POLITOWSKI Director of Photography MICHAEL LAVELLE Production Designer EMMA PUCCI Music by NITIN SAWHNEY Costume Designer NATHALIE LEBORGNE Casting Directors MAUREEN HUGHES, DORIANE FLAMAND GFM Film Productions DAC Directors: Mary McGuckian Garrett McGuckian 29, Herbert Street, Dublin 2, Ireland Registered Company Number: 596124 Tax Number: 3451384S GFM Film Productions Direct Activity Company The Testimony of Ifrah Ahmed A few years ago, the Irish writer-director Mary McGuckian was at the Cannes Film Festival in her role as a board member of IEFTA, a non-profit organisation that works with emerging talent from developing nations. IEFTA was at Cannes that year for an event to showcase four female Ethiopian film makers. In the midst of the crowd was a fabulously dressed woman. McGuckian assumed she was another film-maker. When they spoke, however, the woman explained that she was in Cannes because the UN wanted to make a documentary about her life. To McGuckian's surprise, she spoke English with an Irish accent and lived in Drumcondra, a district of Dublin. Then Ifrah Ahmed began to tell her story. "I told her I'm a campaigner against the practice of female genital mutilation [FGM]," says Ahmed. "I wanted to save young girls, who don't deserve to go through what happened to me, and many women like me. I decided to end female circumcision in Ireland, Somalia and all Africa. Not only FGM, but gender based violence. I told her how Ireland passed legislation banning FGM, and how I wanted to take this campaign globally. I told her I wanted to write a book, make a documentary and a film, about FGM." McGuckian was fascinated with this Somali-born social activist. However, she had already made two films about real people in the past: footballer George Best in the biopic Best (2000), and designer Eileen Grey in The