Shout Gladi Gladi
| Shout Gladi Gladi | |
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| Written by | Iain Kennedy |
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| Narrated by | Meryl Streep |
| Music by | Odd Nosdam |
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| Edited by | Sean MacGowan |
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| Distributed by | International Film Circuit |
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| Language | English |
Shout Gladi Gladi is a 2015 American-British documentary film about the obstetric fistula problem in Africa, co-directed by Adam Friedman and Iain Kennedy, narrated by Meryl Streep, and named for the celebration held after women completed treatment.
It is estimated that 2 million women in Africa contract obstetric fistula during labor, and while more than 500,000 die each year during pregnancy or childbirth, 80% of these deaths are avoidable. The film documents the people who have set a goal to rescue African women from the medical condition which causes affected women to become societal outcasts. Filmed in Kenya, Malawi and Sierra Leone, the film speaks toward Ann Gloag, a former nurse who pushes the movement to save these women, efforts to help the patients themselves, and speaks toward heir stories of personal struggle and triumph. The film ends with the Gladi Gladi ceremony, a singing and dancing celebratory event marking he day the women return home cured.
Freidman had first met Ann Gloag in 2008, and after learning of her project, decided to make a film documenting her efforts. The film was eventually written by Iain Kennedy and co-directed by Kennedy and Adam Friedman, and produced by Friedman's Vertical Ascent in collaboration with The Freedom From Fistula Foundation, an organization founded and run by Scottish businesswoman, Ann Gloag. The foundation partnered with Opportunity Bank in Malawi to provide the newly-cured with a small solar-panel powered generator called a "BBOXX", to allow the women to earn money by charging fees to charge cell-phones, thus providing them with a business opportunity and allowing them to "become masters of their own destiny."
According to Adam Friedman, "Filming ‘Shout’ was an extraordinary experience. My wife and I were stopped at gunpoint in Malawi and were one of the last film crews shooting in Sierra Leone as the Ebola plague descended. But throughout, the wonderful people of Africa and the amazing work that Ann’s groups were doing inspired us to keep on keeping on.”
Friedman was surprised at Meryl Streep's interest in being a part of the film. He had originally wished a narrator of her caliber, but did not think it was even possible. Urged by an acquaintance of his sister's, he sent Streep a copy of the film. One week later he received word from her office that she felt Gladi was so powerful a film she "felt the need to be involved."
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