On Sept. 10, filmmakers and representatives from Utah’s refugee and legal community will meet at the Park City Library for a free screening of “Mrs. Goundo’s Daughter.”
Filmmakers Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater will be in attendance, along with the director of the Refugee Services Office, Gerald Brown. Erika George, a law professor at the U’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, will also be present.
Presented by the Sundance Institute Film Series, “Mrs. Goundo’s Daughter” is a documentary that centers on one Malian woman’s journey to protect her daughter. The film explores Goundo’s struggle to keep her daughter, Djenebou, healthy and whole by remaining in the United States. In order to avoid deportation, Goundo must convince a judge that she and her husband are unable to protect their daughter from her well-intentioned grandparents in Mali, who believe all girls should be circumcised.
Attie and Goldwater look into the complexities of female excision, which is an international female health issue.
Brown has worked with refugees since 1980, and he oversaw a local refugee resettlement in Texas.
Before joining the staff at the U, George was a litigation associate for a New York City firm. While working there, she focused on international litigation arbitration.
The filmmakers will be holding a discussion with the audience after the screening.
