Desert Flower

Running time: 120 mins

From the deserts of Africa to the catwalks of Europe and beyond.

Waris Dirie was born into a small nomadic clan in the deserts of Somalia in which she endured the harshest of both environmental and societal conditions. At the age of three, she was put through the torturous ritual performed on all women of her tribe and many other cultures: female genital mutilation. After walking across the desert at the age of thirteen to escape an arranged marriage, she eventually moves to London to live in the Somalian Embassy and work for her aunt. However she finds herself homeless when her relatives are recalled during the strife in their homeland. Fending for herself, she catches the eye of a famous photographer and begins anew as a model and international spokeswoman against the practice that changed her life.

Based on the true story and book of the same name, Desert Flower, starring supermodel Liya Kebede, Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky) and Timothy Spall, is a stirring testament to the strength of the human spirit.

- Jesse Sparks

Film sponsored by Jennifer Krach.