all started with a small plastic bag.
Peter Herrmann, who had greeted a couple of times before I passed it on the table and said, "Call me if you find three good reasons to make a movie about it." It was the book Desert Flower . I had not read. "Millions of people have done," she replied.
The novel captivated me immediately. It was an incredible journey. I had never seen so many contradictions together in a one person: the desert nomad girl, top model in New York, illiterate cleaning woman at McDonald's, United Nations political speaker. If history had not been real, would have believed to be reading a modern version of Cinderella. But mostly, Desert Flower is a cry against the injustice suffered by women through the ablation. "Who are you to want to film my story?" Waris Dirie asked us just starting our first meeting. Hours later, board a taxi, said: "When do we start now?"
understood After all We had our reasons. During the casting in London for the role of Waris, a woman about 40 years, originally from Mali, entered the room. I watched in disbelief, but she, very friendly, told me: "Do not worry, I'm not Waris, I have too many years and I'm not an actress. Working in a factory in Glasgow, so I asked the day off and came by train to tell how important this film for Africa. " At that moment I felt a terrible shame for having doubted if I wanted to make the film. He took my hand, kissed it and said, laughing: "Do not be afraid."
When I went to Kenya to document myself, I met three Somali women covered with a veil that is called the same, Amina, and had fled the civil war. They taught me what it really is female genital mutilation, and I spoke of a childhood identical to that of Waris. Suddenly, one said: "There is an American, called Obama wants to be your president. It is ours. " We all have one thing in common.
Then, in Djibouti, I realized that Desert Flower was the first movie that really focused on the Somali culture and Islamic roots. We shot nomads who had never seen a camera. The director of photography, Ken Kelsch, pictured in movies Abel Ferrara had impressed me. When filming, we risk a woman who is devoted to ablate, I understood that the film was also my personal journey, partly due to my prejudices.
famous actors worked with inexperienced people. There were cases where I had to switch to some Somalis, as Waris's father, because suddenly disappeared. After a while, I found him praying. She did not expect it to 80 people and a sunset. The market place in Djibouti served as Mogadishu. Police had surrounded the area for filming, but suddenly disappeared. It was chaos, attacked several team members. The police had gone to dinner.
In London, Liya Kebede asked to leave the street and shot with a hidden camera. Tried to integrate into the life of the homeless and was treated in the usual way. Only two Somalis asked if he needed money or a roof.
Since the story of Waris is a fairy tale, I thought it was even more necessary to make an honest and realistic adaptation.
Jamie Leonard, the British production designer, had built the sets in an abandoned factory in Germany. When Sally Hawkins and the rest of the fine cast began to unleash his talent within those walls movable everybody forgets that we were in Cologne. We were in London and we had become road travelers Djibouti, England, Germany and the United States. No matter your passport, all we had the same story, the story of a brave woman who had taken his life in his hands.
I thank Peter for giving me the white plastic bag.
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