Desert Flower (2009)

The autobiography of a Somalian nomad circumcised at 3, sold in marriage at 13, fled from Africa a while later to become finally an American supermodel and is now at the age of 38, the UN ... See full summary »

Director:

Sherry Hormann

Writers:

Smita Bhide (script revisions), Waris Dirie (novel)

Stars:

Soraya Omar-Scego, Idriss Abdillahi Houfaneh, Awa Saïd Darar

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Soraya Omar-Scego	...	Young Waris
Idriss Abdillahi Houfaneh	...	Old Man
Awa Saïd Darar	...	Amina
Roun Daher Aïnan	...	Waris' Mother
Osman Aden Dalieg	...	Waris' Father
Liya Kebede	...	Waris Dirie
Sally Hawkins	...	Marilyn
Meera Syal	...	Pushpa Patel
Anna Hilgedieck	...	Girl in Shower
Lucrezia Phantazia	...	Girl in Boardinghouse
Craig Parkinson	...	Neil
Matthew Alexander Kaufman	...	Fastfood Manager (as Matt Kaufman)
Timothy Spall	...	Terry Donaldson
Prashant Prabhakar	...	Kami
Anthony Mackie	...	Harold Jackson

Storyline

The autobiography of a Somalian nomad circumcised at 3, sold in marriage at 13, fled from Africa a while later to become finally an American supermodel and is now at the age of 38, the UN spokeswoman against female genital mutilation (FGM).

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Plot Keywords:

f rated | immigrant | modeling | photo shoot | rape | 

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Taglines:

The extraordinary true story of the woman who crossed the desert and changed the world.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violent content, a scene of sexuality and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [France]

Country:

UK Germany Austria France

Language:

English Somali French

Release Date:

24 September 2009 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Fleur du désert

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,657, 20 March 2011, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$44,348, 1 May 2011

Company Credits

Production Co:

Desert Flower Filmproductions,Majestic Filmproduktion,MTM West Television & Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Color (35 mm version)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Safa Idriss Nour, who plays 3 year-old Waris, is the subject of Ms. Dirie's most recent book Saving Safa: Rescuing a Little Girl from FGM.

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Goofs

Lucinda (from the modeling agency) says to Waris she would be without broadband in Africa. Broadband didn't exist in the early to mid 80s when this story took place.

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Connections

Referenced in Movie Friends: Prashant Prabhakar (2013)

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Soundtracks

Let's Stick Together
Music and Lyrics by Peter Hoppe and Bernd Batke
Performed by Slackwax feat. Anna Leyne
© Published by Modern Soul and Universal Publishing

User Reviews

Terrible practice that needs to be rooted out!

It was not long before when I first came to know about circumcision, but it was only for males. The information came along with the news that it has some sort of positive effect. To put my view, I would say it's not so. It was after that came a day when I came across movie Desert Flower. I got to know about the terrible practice of female genital mutilation. Both the sexes miss onto something nature has given them in such practice. What's more evil is there are the cases where subject bleeds to death. It is terrible.

Desert flower is a movie of a woman, in Somalia who becomes victim to the practice of FGM. She however changes her fate and becomes a supermodel and even UN special ambassador

At the end however, we receive data how those practices are made illegal and human beings living in those area are getting together towards a better future.