Film about female circumcision actualizes problem of silencing this practice in Caucasus

On December 13, the Documentary Film Centre in Moscow will screen the film "This Happens Here" about the practice of female genital mutilation in Northern Caucasus. The authors of the film are journalists Svetlana Anokhina and Vladimir Sevrinovsky. This will be the first screening of the film in a movie theatre, Oksana Serbinova, the creative producer of the film, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the problem of female circumcision in Northern Caucasus is most acute in Dagestan, where, according to the "Legal Initiative"*, at least 1240 girls become victims to such surgeries every year.

The film "This Happens Here" was posted on the YouTube in late September 2020, said Oksana Serbinova.

According to the producer, spectators reacted differently because the film "hits the very heart." "The film presents live testimonies, cases of women who had suffered from this procedure," Ms Serbinova has stated.

In her opinion, Sevrinovsky and Anokhina did an important job. "Because in the Caucasus, the topic of female circumcision was closed and stigmatized. We've faced the fact that many were not aware precisely because it was not customary to talk about it. And the major achievement is that the [Dagestani] Muftiate has issued a fatwa on female circumcision (on the inadmissibility of such surgeries, – note of the 'Caucasian Knot')," Ms Serbinova has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 11, 2021 at 10:26 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.