Mrs. Goundo's Daughter

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Directed by Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater
2009, 58 minutes

Presented in partnership with HIAS and Council Migration Service of Philadelphia, Nationalities Service Center, and Women’s Campaign International

This documentary explores issues of human rights and asylum in a film about a mother’s journey to protect her daughter. Declared a "heart-wrenching testament to the integrity and solidarity of women in the face of staggering adversity" by Ed Gonzalez in the Village Voice, Mrs. Goundo’s Daughter explores a Malian mother’s struggle for political asylum in the U.S. so that she can keep her two-year-old daughter healthy and whole. To avoid deportation, Mrs. Goundo must convince a judge that she is unable to protect her daughter, Djenabou, from her well-intentioned grandparents in West Africa, who believe all girls should undergo female genital cutting. Djenebou's situation is not isolated – an estimated three million girls each year are subjected to this procedure.

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Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater are 2005 recipients of the Pew Fellowship in the Arts. Since 1990, Attie and Goldwater have collaborated on award-winning documentaries for national and international broadcast.

Major documentary collaborations by Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater include:
Mrs. Goundo's Daughter, 2009; Rosita, 2005; Maggie Growls, 2003; I Witness: Shot Down in Pensacola, 1998; Landowksa: Uncommon Visionary, 1997; Motherless: A legacy of loss from illegal abortion, 1992