Bref: An award-winning social documentary against cliteridectomy at Onassis Channel on YouTube

Women and men from Africa now living in Spain speak openly about the practice of female genital mutilation. Their opposing views and experiences bring out the complexities of this divisive issue, where human rights are brought into conflict with cultural heritage and tradition. The documentary deals with the issue not as something removed from European reality, but rather as a matter of concern for people living right alongside us.

Some years ago, in some part of Africa, a group of girls who had been subjected to female genital mutilation told their teacher that their mothers and grandmothers had explained to them that to be cut was something good because it helped them stay true to their faith. “Bref!” was their teacher’s reply, before she went on to explain that their clitorectomies had denied them a source of pleasure. In French slang, “bref” means “enough”. The word acts as a brief pause in a conversation, before some new argument or point of view is introduced. This was also the aim of “Bref”, a documentary created to raise awareness among women from Africa living in Spain that went on to screen at more than 20 international film festivals, winning Best Documentary on Women’s Rights at the Málaga Film Festival, the second largest film festival in Spain. The film had its Greek premiere in competition at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, and also won Best Social Documentary at the AegeanDocs International Documentary Film Festival.

Refusing to take a didactic or strictly informative tone, the film gives the floor solely to women and men from Africa now living in Spain, with the aim of starting a conversation around the subject. They, coming from Africa, where female genital mutilation is compulsory for every girl, now live in Spain, where the practice is illegal and considered a clear violation of human rights. They find themselves caught in a battle between two different cultures and, through their thoughts and experiences, we are given the opportunity to get a sense of the issues surrounding female genital mutilation today, to gain an awareness of the varied factors at play within this contentious issue, and the social dynamics that have kept the issue unresolved for so long.