CS Video: He Named Me Malala Director Davis Guggenheim

Interview with He Named Me Malala director Davis Guggenheim

On October 9, 2012, 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai was riding the school bus to her home in Pakistan’s Swat Valley when she was shot by a Taliban assassin who had targeted the teenager for her outspoken statements about education for girls on the internet.  

After an amazing recovery, Malala traveled across the globe telling her story and preaching about giving girls and women an education in places like Nigeria, Kenya and Abu Dhabi to the point where she was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, becoming the youngest recipient of the prestigious award.

Malala Yousafzai told her story in her bestselling book I Am Malala, but now her story has been turned into the documentary He Named Me Malala, directed by Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth), and it’s a glorious and inspirational film that not only shows Malala at home with her family but features extensive interviews with Malala, her father Ziauddin (who has also spoken out about the Taliban and the negative impact they’re having on the Muslim world) as well as beautiful animation that helps to tell their story.

Ms. Yousafzai is not only a fascinating subject for the way she survived a near-death experience but also for the fact she’s smart beyond her years and quite outspoken but as we see in the film is still a normal teenage girl. Nobel Peace Prize winners like Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela are honored and praised long after their deaths, but in He Named Me Malala we see an equally special advocate for peace and education just as her story is beginning.

Last week, ComingSoon.net sat down with Guggenheim to talk about Malala, an interview you can watch in the player below.

He Named Me Malala opens in select cities on Friday, October 2 and then expands nationwide on October 9, the third anniversary of Malala’s shooting.