Experiencing Interruptions?

My FGM Story

“My FGM Story” was made in collaboration with the NGO "The Girl’s Agenda”, a group of young men and women based in The Gambia. Halimatou Ceesay, who is a member of the group, presents the documentary and tells her own story about how she was cut when she was 9 years old at the back of her grandmother’s house. As a journalist, she questions the tradition of FGM and the physiological effects such as virginal infections and the lack of lubrication within the vagina as a result of cutting. Halimatou interviews her family members, health professionals, religious leaders and is finally granted an interview with President, Adama Barrow, who until now has refused to talk about FGM in public. At the end of the film, Halimatou’s own sister agrees not to cut her daughter, Rama, because she has changed her mind.

  • Judy Aslett
    Director
    Living With Malaria
  • Halimatou Ceesay
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    34 minutes 18 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 7, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Gambia
  • Country of Filming:
    Gambia
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Judy Aslett

Dr Judy Aslett began her career as a TV news correspondent for ITN, Channel Four News, specializing in foreign affairs. She has worked extensively in Africa over three decades and was nominated for a BAFTA award for coverage of the 1994 election in South Africa. She produced and presented the award-winning film Living with Malaria, BBC 2015. Judy has been a Visiting Lecturer at University of Westminster and Goldsmith’s College and a Teaching Fellow at University of Sussex. She has been making documentaries and researching the effective use of film and video in the campaign to end FGM since 2014.

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Director Statement

I first met Halimatou Ceesay at a #EndFGM conference in Gambia in 2015. She is a journalist, a campaigner and an inspiration for young people in her country where 75 percent of girls are cut. By putting herself “out there”, and telling her personal story, she is demonstrating to young people that they have a choice. This film is being shown in schools to boys and girls aged 13-15 by the NGO “The Girl’s Agenda”. It has inspired young people to talk to their own families about how to change their culture with the aim of ending FGM, in a generation.

My background in TV news and documentary making in the UK has convinced me that factual documentary is an important medium in bringing about social change. FGM was legal in Gambia until 2016, and “My FGM Story” is the first documentary on the subject to be aired on national TV in country. It’s also groundbreaking locally in terms of its approach; Gambian film makers presenting and producing a factual documentary on a taboo gender issue.

230 million women and girls, worldwide, have undergone FGM and the numbers in some regions are are increasing despite international efforts to end the practise. My PhD research into the impact of this film has shown that making the documentary film locally, reflecting local nuances which impact traditions and practises, and most importantly being guided and directed by local filmmakers, is an effective way to bring about change.

Since making “My FGM Story” I have made a companion film, “My FGM Story, Kenya”, which can stand alone or as a comparator. It follows a young Maasai female film maker exploring with her community how she, and maybe other young girls, can still maintain their values and traditions without being cut.