Desert Flower
Mysterious, proud, beautiful: When the young Somali Waris Dirie is discovered in a London fast-food restaurant by star photographer Terry Donaldson, the international fashion world enthusiastically celebrates the birth of a new top model. But behind the glamorous facade lies a deeply moving fate. Born in the African desert, Waris grows up in a constant struggle for daily survival. When she is to be forcibly married off at the age of 13, she flees to escape her father's will. She wanders through the desert for days until she finally reaches the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Her mother's family takes her in protectively and gets her a position as a maid in the Somali embassy in London - where she is not allowed to leave the house for years.
When she is threatened with return to Somalia a few years later, Waris flees again. She goes into hiding in the metropolis, keeps her head above water with odd jobs and finds a friend and confidante in the lively saleswoman and bon vivant Marilyn.
But then she discovers Donaldson ... and a fairy tale comes true: the designers are all over her, the jet set and the press love the nomadic girl who has found her way out of the desert dust and onto the world's most famous catwalks. Waris Dirie becomes one of the best-paid models in the world. But for all her success, Waris is always haunted by the shadows of her past, burdened by the secret of her childhood. At the height of her career, she tells in an interview about the cruel tradition of female circumcision, of which she herself was a victim as a little girl.
The publication triggers a wave of sympathy and protest and Waris decides to dedicate her life to the fight against this ritual...
Producer: Peter Herrmann
Director and screenplay: Sherry Hormann
Cinematography: Ken Kelsch
Editing: Clara Fabry
Music: Martin Todsharow
Cast:
Liya Kebede: Waris Dirie
Sally Hawkins: Marilyn
Timothy Spall: Donaldson
Juliet Stevenson: Lucinda
Craig Parkinson: Neil
Anthony Mackie: Harold
Meera Syal: Pushpa
Prashant Prabhakar: Kami
Prices (selection):
Bavarian Film Award 2009 (Producer)
TCM Audience Award - Festival De San Sebastián
Nominatio German Film Award 2010 - Best Feature Film: Peter Herrmann
Mysterious, proud, beautiful: When the young Somali Waris Dirie is discovered in a London fast-food restaurant by star photographer Terry Donaldson, the international fashion world enthusiastically celebrates the birth of a new top model. But behind the glamorous facade lies a deeply moving fate. Born in the African desert, Waris grows up in a constant struggle for daily survival. When she is to be forcibly married off at the age of 13, she flees to escape her father's will. She wanders through the desert for days until she finally reaches the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Her mother's family takes her in protectively and gets her a position as a maid in the Somali embassy in London - where she is not allowed to leave the house for years.
When she is threatened with return to Somalia a few years later, Waris flees again. She goes into hiding in the metropolis, keeps her head above water with odd jobs and finds a friend and confidante in the lively saleswoman and bon vivant Marilyn.
But then she discovers Donaldson ... and a fairy tale comes true: the designers are all over her, the jet set and the press love the nomadic girl who has found her way out of the desert dust and onto the world's most famous catwalks. Waris Dirie becomes one of the best-paid models in the world. But for all her success, Waris is always haunted by the shadows of her past, burdened by the secret of her childhood. At the height of her career, she tells in an interview about the cruel tradition of female circumcision, of which she herself was a victim as a little girl.
The publication triggers a wave of sympathy and protest and Waris decides to dedicate her life to the fight against this ritual...
Producer: Peter Herrmann
Director and screenplay: Sherry Hormann
Cinematography: Ken Kelsch
Editing: Clara Fabry
Music: Martin Todsharow
Cast:
Liya Kebede: Waris Dirie
Sally Hawkins: Marilyn
Timothy Spall: Donaldson
Juliet Stevenson: Lucinda
Craig Parkinson: Neil
Anthony Mackie: Harold
Meera Syal: Pushpa
Prashant Prabhakar: Kami
Prices (selection):
Bavarian Film Award 2009 (Producer)
TCM Audience Award - Festival De San Sebastián
Nominatio German Film Award 2010 - Best Feature Film: Peter Herrmann
