Girl Rising

Story:

Girl Rising is a 2013 documentary film produced by Kayce Freed, Tom Yellin and Holly Gordon at The Documentary Group, in partnership with Paul G. Allen and Jody Allen of Vulcan Productions. It was directed by Academy Award nominee Richard E. Robbins and features narration by Anne Hathaway, Cate Blanchett, Selena Gomez, Liam Neeson, Sushmita Sen, Priyanka Chopra, Chloë Grace Moretz, Freida Pinto, Salma Hayek, Meryl Streep, Alicia Keys and Kerry Washington.

PLOT

The movie tells the stories of nine girls from nine countries: (Sierra Leone, Haiti, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Peru, Egypt, Nepal, India and Cambodia). Each girl had her story written by a writer from her country and voiced by renowned actors. Their stories reflect their struggles to overcome societal or cultural barriers. The writers are Loung Ung (Cambodia), Edwidge Danticat (Haiti), Manjushree Thapa (Nepal), Mona Eltahawy (Egypt), Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia), Sooni Taraporevala (India), Maria Arana (Peru), Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone), Zarghuna Kargar (Afghanistan). The girls’ names are Sokha (Cambodia), Wadley (Haiti), Suma (Nepal), Yasmin (Egypt), Azmera (Ethiopia), Ruksana (India), Senna (Peru), Mariama (Sierra Leone) and Amina (Afghanistan). On CNN, director of the film Richard E. Robbins esxplained that

On the first trip to each country … we went and did dozens and dozens of interviews and tried to find the right girl to be the focus of the film, although those choices about which girl it would be were ultimately made by the writers. It felt important to me that the writers who were going to write their stories choose for themselves who they felt most compelled to write about. And then the second trip, we went back and spent time with the writer and the girl together. … It wasn’t until the third trip that we actually sat out to try and make each piece.

Partial preview of the film and a panel discussion was held at Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C on February 25, 2013. Girl Rising premiered on CNN International on 22 June, 2013