GISELLE PORTENIER
Giselle is a Canadian journalist and documentary filmmaker who is passionate about human rights, especially the human rights of children and women. Her ground-breaking films have shown globally and have received numerous prestigious accolades, including two Peabody Awards. More importantly, they have helped local activists change minds, hearts and laws. Honour Killings in Pakistan, Child slavery in Africa, Female Infanticide in India, and Sex Slavery in Thailand are among the tough topics she tackled while based in London for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). "In the Name of Your Daughter" is Portenier’s second feature documentary. She is hoping to turn this film about the most courageous girls in the world running into a powerful tool for change.

Director's statement
"I’ve been wanting to make a film highlighting the harmful tradition of female genital mutilation (FGM) for decades. FGM is the most egregious systematic human rights violation perpetrated on young girls and women in the world today—200 million women alive have been through it and more than 3 million girls are still at risk each year. Yet many people don’t know about it, and of those who do, many aren’t comfortable talking or hearing about it. It’s a tough topic. Too often too, there is the thinking that culture is more important than human rights; and there’s the fear that if we speak up against female genital mutilation, we risk being charged with prejudices and racism. But by placing so much emphasis on worrying about the cultural sensitivities of the adults, we are sacrificing the fundamental human rights of the children. This is why I made IN THE NAME OF YOUR DAUGHTER. I wanted to amplify the voices of the children themselves, the young girls who are fighting to save themselves from FGM. Because here is the thing; once young girls are educated about the potential effects of FGM—death, increased maternal mortality, pain urinating and menstruating, fistula, loss of sexual pleasure and so on—they do not want to go through it".