Fox Searchlight Pictures has acquired the worldwide rights to Image Nation’s latest documentary, He Named Me Malala, directed by Davis Guggenheim, who won an Academy Award for An Inconvenient Truth.
The deal covers all territories except France – where Studiocanal will distribute the film – and other French-speaking regions. The film is scheduled for release in 2015.
The documentary, produced by Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald for Image Nation Abu Dhabi and co-financed by Participant Media, is an intimate portrait of Pakistani teenager and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was seriously wounded in October 2012, at the age of 15, when Taliban gunmen opened fire on her school bus in Swat Valley.
She was targeted because she had spoken out in favour of education for girls in the region, as the Taliban closed and destroyed schools following a January 2009 edict that females should not attend school.
Malala initially blogged anonymously for the BBC’s Urdu website, but had taken on an increasingly high-profile role in the global media by the time of the assassination attempt in October 2012. She was shot in the head, sparking international outrage.
Malala has since emerged as a leading campaigner for the rights and education of children worldwide.
“Spending the last 18 months with Malala, her father Ziauddin and their family has been one of the great experiences of my life,” says Guggenheim. “Now that Fox Searchlight is joining Image Nation and Participant Media, we have the opportunity to share their moving story with the world.”
Image Nation chairman Mohammed Al Mubarak says: “This project has been an incredible journey and we’re now pleased to be joined by Fox Searchlight Pictures, whose expertise will help ensure the film reaches as many people as possible with its inspiring message.”
The team behind the film will also launch an international advocacy and fundraising campaign in partnership with the Malala Fund, the teenager’s non-profit organisation that is working to empower adolescent girls globally by assuring them of a quality secondary education.
cnewbould@thenational.ae