AFRO-NETS> Film on FGM International movement

[Erica Pomerance <nutaaq@netcom.ca>]

Film on FGM International movement
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News about a dynamic new documentary FILM PROJECT on the international 
movement to tamp out Female Genital Mutilation.

The Canadian Productions PAX is presently researching and developing a 
one-hour documentary film project about the international movement to 
end female genital mutilation. This is a film geared not only for tele-
vision, but also designed for use by NGOS, health care workers and ac-
tivists in the field. We intend to highlight the important role African 
women play in this struggle, working in collaboration with interna-
tional agencies, NGOs and support groups outside of Africa. The film 
will be shot in several regions of Africa, Western Europe and North 
America.

Our present film is entitled ENDING EXCISION: Female Genital Mutila-
tion, a Challenge for the Millenium. The project has already received 
seed money is development from both the Canadian Independent Film and 
Video Fund and from the ACCT North-South Co-production Fund, (adminis-
tered by the Vues d'Afrique Film Festival in Quebec). This fund encour-
ages co-productions between francophone countries from the North and 
South. Our co-producer on the project is Zara Mahamat Yacoub in Tchad, 
who produced and directed the award-winning film on excision, DILEMME 
AU FEMININ.

Following is a short synopsis of the film. We will be doing both a 
French and an English version, and hope to shoot in English and French-
speaking African countries, Western Europe, Canada and the US.

The writer-researchers Aoua Bocar LY (who will also be the on-camera 
Quebec FGM activist the film will follow) and writer - director Erica 
Pomerance will be doing some preliminary shooting on a research trip to 
several countries in West and Central Africa this coming fall. Our trip 
will also take us to Europe to meet with groups ad agencies working in-
ternationally to eradicate FGM. We have already made preliminary con-
tacts with WHO, RAINBO, CAMS, GAMS and FORWARD, informing them of our 
project. The WHO 20 year plan is of particular interest to us, since it 
appears to be in application in countries where positive headway is be-
ing made, and because it emphasises collaboration with local, regional 
and national committees of the Inter African Committee (IAC).

We have been reading articles and communiques on the WEB concerning FGM 
and realise there is a tremendous interest in the subject world-wide. 
We feel a new a film on the progress of the movement to end FGM is a 
pertinent at this stage. While there are many films about genital muti-
lation, so far none (with the exception perhaps of Parmar's 1993 
WARRIOR MARK) underlines the importance of the empowerment of African 
women in this area, and the slow but steady progress of the interna-
tional movement to stop FGM. It is important to stress the positive 
long-term aspects in a steady by uphill struggle and to assess the im-
pediments to its progress and achievements to date.

We are hereby appealing to your network to contact us with information 
regarding any aspect of this movement which might serve us in our field 
research, particularly relating to situations in specific locations in 
Africa, (for example Malicounda Bambara, and surrounding villages in 
Senegal which have determined of themselves to ban the practice, or 
situations where women have asked for refugee status abroad to avoid 
FGM etc). We would also like to learn about projects being carried out 
by your organisation. If you have some input, information or interest-
ing human stories to tell that might be film material, or some contacts 
that could be useful in our field research, please let us know.

We are also looking for funding and potential broadcasters & users for 
this film. If you have any ideas for possible funding sources we would 
particularly appreciate hearing from you & your organisation.

A complete film synopsis can be made available for serious potential 
funders and research contributors.

Productions PAX is a Quebec-based independent production company with 
many years of experience in documentary film and video production. In 
1991, we completed NURSES CARE, a five-part series on the nursing pro-
fession in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada, with 
which we have a close working association. Company president and pro-
ducer Tanya Ballantyne Tree achieved international recognition as a 
pioneer in documentary film with THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE, a National 
Film Board Production about the war against poverty.

We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Erica Pomerance 
Co-producer/ Director ENDING EXCISION 
Productions PAX 
Tel. +1-514-279-3507 
mailto:pax@cam.org or 
mailto:nutaaq@netcom.ca

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AGAINST EXCISION
Female Genital Mutilation: A Challenge for the Millennium

Synopsis

Each year, approximately two million African girls are genitally muti-
lated, a practice currently on the rise in both West and East Africa. 
Since the 1980s, an international movement has consolidated to elimi-
nate the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), and in 1995 the 
World Health Organisation implemented a strategic 20 year plan with 
this objective. The dynamic University of Montreal sociologist Dr. Aoua 
Bocar LY is involved in the struggle to end genital mutilation. In 
preparation for an international conference to be held in Quebec, she 
sets out on a research trip which takes her to the European headquar-
ters of agencies heading the campaign against MGF, and to several coun-
tries on the African continent to see this strategy in action. In her 
native Senegal, LY sees a sharp contrast in attitudes towards excision 
between bustling Dakar and the refugee camps on the Mauritianian bor-
der; in Guinee Conakry with Quebec health care co-operant Dr. Fatoumata 
Balde, she examines the effects of a moderate form of excision now 
practised in medical clinics. In Central Africa, LY discovers excision 
is still firmly entrenched in the sub-Saharan desert country of Chad, 
despite efforts by a national committee to abolish its practice. In 
Ethiopia, 90% of the female population undergo infibulation, the most 
extreme form of genital mutilation; while in Egypt, where excision 
dates back to the era of the Pharaohs, an Islamic fundamentalist back-
lash now threatens to defeat a new law criminalising its practice.

Our documentary examines the origins and legacy of genital mutilation, 
while documenting international efforts to eliminate this cruel viola-
tion of women's and children rights: public information campaigns, lob-
bying strategies and legislative measures spearheaded by international 
agencies, NGOs and groups of courageous African women. We meet key 
players in the struggle against MGF and are party to the sometimes dif-
ficult collaboration between women's movements from Africa and the 
West. Finally, our film points to the increasing problem of genital mu-
tilation in Europe and North America, as a result of recent waves of 
immigration from countries where it is common practice. Aoua LY, her 
sisters and colleagues on three continents attempt to unearth the roots 
of this traditional ritual which has proven so harmful to generations 
of women and children, while focusing on international perspectives for 
its universal abolition in the coming millennium.

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