New Video On FGM – ‘The Broken Silence’

This video produced by Esther Heller (who has also produced two other videos entitled ‘Let Us Talk’ and ‘Now We Are Talking’) had its UK launch on 22nd January 2004. The video is targeted at professionals who may come into contact with Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the course of their duties. The video is what Ester describes as a ‘talking heads’ video, with professionals and activists discussing some of the more complex issues of FGM. FORWARD Director Adwoa Kwateng-kluvitse also appears on the film.

The launch programme was in two parts, the morning session was targeted at members of the community and voluntary sector while the afternoon was for the statutory sector. The day was structured in this way to allow for any issues raised by the community to be fed back to the statutory sector. As it transpired it was not possible to keep the statutory and voluntary sectors separate, but it allowed for a wide ranging and cross fertilising discussion.

The video is an extremely good tool for training, awareness raising and for highlighting the challenging issues that professionals face.

Copies of the video are available for purchase from FORWARD at the price of £20.00 plus postage and packing..