Congratulations to our friends at Attie & Goldwater on receiving support from Sundance for their work-in-production Goundo’s Daughter:

GOUNDO’S DAUGHTER, a new documentary by Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater, is one of 16 feature documentaries (selected from 325 applicants) to receive financial and creative support from the Sundance Documentary Fund. The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program supports U.S. and
international documentary filmmakers who “explore the critical issues of our times with highly crafted storytelling and stylistic innovation.”

GOUNDO’S DAUGHTER explores issues of FGM/C and asylum

If Goundo is deported to Mali from Philadelphia, her two year-old daughter will almost certainly be forced to endure female genital mutilation/cutting—performed on 92% of the female population in Mali. GOUNDO’S DAUGHTER is the story of Goundo’s fight for political asylum in the U.S. and her determination to protect her daughter and stop the cycle of FGM/C.

Read more about the film here. I’ve seen a rough-cut of this gripping documentary, and it’s an extraordinary legal and personal drama set against the backdrop of an onerous and capricious asylum system, and Goundo’s story is not over yet! If you’re not familiar with the Attie & Goldwater oeuvre, get on it!

Docudelphia is an occasional feature on the First Person Arts Blog that showcases new and emerging documentary films under production in and around Philadelphia.