The Cut: Exposing FGM Worldwide
Donation protected
Most people already know that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is found in many African countries. In reality however, FGM is a global human rights problem found in countries few automatically associate with the practice.
From Brunei to Iraq, as well as countries in the West where immigrants have brought the practice, FGM is a threat to girls and young women. We are now creating a feature-length documentary film that will expose FGM as a global problem and in doing so we hope to change societies and save lives.
Can a film really do that? Nearly a decade ago, Wadi the German-Iraqi NGO, began documenting and filming evidence of FGM in Kurdistan. We showed our short films to politicians, clerics, village elders, and shared them with the global TV and online media. These films helped change attitudes and even led to a law banning FGM in Kurdistan. Please click here to understand the impact these films had. Today the majority of Kurds oppose FGM
.
We at Wadi want to replicate this success and have formed an alliance of anti-FGM activists from Asia to the Middle-East as well as in the West who have begun filming documentary evidence of FGM and collecting statistics. We will start petitions to lobby governments. We will release relevant snippets of video as well as the full documentary to local and world media. We will use this evidence to show the public and influence politicians to change the law or enforce existing legislations. As we did in Kurdistan, we will shame politicians into action.
You can help us by supporting our new documentary. We would love your funding and your input. When you help us, you effectively become one of our activists and can help us shape the campaign. Beyond this you can also help spread the word through social media by letting people know about our campaign.
As you can see in the introductory video, we have collected some interviews across many countries but we have more to do. Hivos , the Dutch NGO first kick-started our work by providing us with a small grant to buy four video cameras and providing the activists with technical training. However, we need more funds for three more HD cameras and post-production (sound, music, colour correction and editing). We also need to conduct additional surveys and interviews in India, Malaysia, and the Middle-East. This involves travel and personnel costs. Funding is also need to license specific images, graphics and existing videos. The sum we seek is modest for such a project but the upside is potentially huge. Not only can we help secure the health and well-being of so many people but we are also changing attitudes and entire communities.
If we exceed the fundraising goal, we will add more countries (e.g. surveying and interviewing Muslim communities in Brunei, Singapore, Kuwait, and the UAE). We generally need about €7000 for each additional country in the documentary project.
Wadi is not a fly-by-night NGO. It has been operating in the Middle-East for over 20 years, ever since Saddam Hussein’s forces were kicked out of Kurdistan by the UN’s no-fly mandate. Wadi's experienced staff and volunteers come from Europe, America and the Middle-East and it is registered as a German charity. Funds you provide for this project go directly to the charity. In additional to its work on FGM, Wadi is also known for many projects including building women’s shelters and centres, supplying villages with clean water, aiding victims of chemical attacks, and helping Yazidi sex slaves who escaped from Islamic State
.
Our timeline is simple. We will complete filming in the spring of 2016. We will spend the summer editing the project and begin releasing snippets of the documentary in designated countries as well as globally to news and online media. Partnering with our international activists, we will begin online petitions as well as showing the videos to politicians. In the second half of 2016 we will begin submitting the feature documentary to film festivals. Although the BBC partnered with us to release our previous work, we will engage a film sales agent this time as this is a feature length documentary with potential TV audiences in many countries and therefore we seek multiple broadcasters.
To thank you for your support, we offer the following rewards at different levels:
€5 Thank you message from team members.
€10 Regular updates of the project via email. Know how we are making a difference and how your funding is hard at work. All the above as well.
€30 Digital download of the film when it is commercially available. All the above as well.
€50 A ‘thank-you’ with a mention of your name on our film’s web site. All the above as well.
€300 A skype or phone conversation with one of the team members to discuss our work. All the above as well.
€500 A ‘thank-you’ with a mention of your name in the end credits of the film. All the above as well.
€1000 Opportunity to view an early cut of the film online before we finalise editing. We solicit feedback from you during the post-production and might consider your opinions in the shaping of the completed film. All the above as well.
€2500 An opportunity to meet with one of the team members for coffee to discuss our work. Meeting to be held possibly in London, Los Angeles or Berlin. Date and location to be confirmed. You are responsible for all transportation and costs related to travel to the site. All the above as well.
€4000 An invitation to the premiere. Date and location to be confirmed. You are responsible for all transportation and costs related to travel to the site. All the above as well.
€7000 Associate Producer credit at the end of the film. All the above as well.
€10000 Executive Producer credit near the beginning of the film. Whenever possible, an opportunity to appear with the core team of filmmakers on any stage where the film premieres. Date and location to be confirmed. You are responsible for all transportation and costs related to travel to the site. All the above as well.
From Brunei to Iraq, as well as countries in the West where immigrants have brought the practice, FGM is a threat to girls and young women. We are now creating a feature-length documentary film that will expose FGM as a global problem and in doing so we hope to change societies and save lives.
Can a film really do that? Nearly a decade ago, Wadi the German-Iraqi NGO, began documenting and filming evidence of FGM in Kurdistan. We showed our short films to politicians, clerics, village elders, and shared them with the global TV and online media. These films helped change attitudes and even led to a law banning FGM in Kurdistan. Please click here to understand the impact these films had. Today the majority of Kurds oppose FGM
.
We at Wadi want to replicate this success and have formed an alliance of anti-FGM activists from Asia to the Middle-East as well as in the West who have begun filming documentary evidence of FGM and collecting statistics. We will start petitions to lobby governments. We will release relevant snippets of video as well as the full documentary to local and world media. We will use this evidence to show the public and influence politicians to change the law or enforce existing legislations. As we did in Kurdistan, we will shame politicians into action.
You can help us by supporting our new documentary. We would love your funding and your input. When you help us, you effectively become one of our activists and can help us shape the campaign. Beyond this you can also help spread the word through social media by letting people know about our campaign.
As you can see in the introductory video, we have collected some interviews across many countries but we have more to do. Hivos , the Dutch NGO first kick-started our work by providing us with a small grant to buy four video cameras and providing the activists with technical training. However, we need more funds for three more HD cameras and post-production (sound, music, colour correction and editing). We also need to conduct additional surveys and interviews in India, Malaysia, and the Middle-East. This involves travel and personnel costs. Funding is also need to license specific images, graphics and existing videos. The sum we seek is modest for such a project but the upside is potentially huge. Not only can we help secure the health and well-being of so many people but we are also changing attitudes and entire communities.
If we exceed the fundraising goal, we will add more countries (e.g. surveying and interviewing Muslim communities in Brunei, Singapore, Kuwait, and the UAE). We generally need about €7000 for each additional country in the documentary project.
Wadi is not a fly-by-night NGO. It has been operating in the Middle-East for over 20 years, ever since Saddam Hussein’s forces were kicked out of Kurdistan by the UN’s no-fly mandate. Wadi's experienced staff and volunteers come from Europe, America and the Middle-East and it is registered as a German charity. Funds you provide for this project go directly to the charity. In additional to its work on FGM, Wadi is also known for many projects including building women’s shelters and centres, supplying villages with clean water, aiding victims of chemical attacks, and helping Yazidi sex slaves who escaped from Islamic State
.
Our timeline is simple. We will complete filming in the spring of 2016. We will spend the summer editing the project and begin releasing snippets of the documentary in designated countries as well as globally to news and online media. Partnering with our international activists, we will begin online petitions as well as showing the videos to politicians. In the second half of 2016 we will begin submitting the feature documentary to film festivals. Although the BBC partnered with us to release our previous work, we will engage a film sales agent this time as this is a feature length documentary with potential TV audiences in many countries and therefore we seek multiple broadcasters.
To thank you for your support, we offer the following rewards at different levels:
€5 Thank you message from team members.
€10 Regular updates of the project via email. Know how we are making a difference and how your funding is hard at work. All the above as well.
€30 Digital download of the film when it is commercially available. All the above as well.
€50 A ‘thank-you’ with a mention of your name on our film’s web site. All the above as well.
€300 A skype or phone conversation with one of the team members to discuss our work. All the above as well.
€500 A ‘thank-you’ with a mention of your name in the end credits of the film. All the above as well.
€1000 Opportunity to view an early cut of the film online before we finalise editing. We solicit feedback from you during the post-production and might consider your opinions in the shaping of the completed film. All the above as well.
€2500 An opportunity to meet with one of the team members for coffee to discuss our work. Meeting to be held possibly in London, Los Angeles or Berlin. Date and location to be confirmed. You are responsible for all transportation and costs related to travel to the site. All the above as well.
€4000 An invitation to the premiere. Date and location to be confirmed. You are responsible for all transportation and costs related to travel to the site. All the above as well.
€7000 Associate Producer credit at the end of the film. All the above as well.
€10000 Executive Producer credit near the beginning of the film. Whenever possible, an opportunity to appear with the core team of filmmakers on any stage where the film premieres. Date and location to be confirmed. You are responsible for all transportation and costs related to travel to the site. All the above as well.
Organizer
Wadi EV
Organizer
Frankfurt
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