Desert Flower is the story of a young girl who crosses the desert of Somalia to escape a forced marriage. Having been born to a nomadic tribe, she survived female genital mutilation at the age of three. 140 million women world wide live with the results of this horrendous procedure. Many bleed to death from the practice or in childbirth and all suffer the consequences as they grow into womanhood.
This movie tells the story of Waris Dirie who flees to London, suffers homelessness and as an undocumented immigrant but becomes one of the World's most recognizable supermodels. She now speaks out for governments to ban this practice. The movie is adapted from the book of the same name about her journey.
Sherry Horman directs this drama and stars Liya Kebede an Ethiopian born model and actress.
Timothy Spall plays the photographer that discovers her in a fast food restaurant. And Sally Hawkins plays the Londoner who reluctantly becomes her good friend. Both Hawkins and Spall can be see in many of Mike Leigh's films.
