Wajir Girls Town
“According to Somali culture, a woman has no voice.”
Wajir Girls’ Town shows what happens when girls learn to answer back - through education, safety, and dignity.
This 28-minute documentary follows girls escaping FGM (female genital mutilation), early marriage, hunger, and silence. It also follows the women who fight to give them a different future.
My role was to shape the color grading and picture finishing so the images protect truth, respect culture, and keep the girls’ voices at the center.
The look relies on deep but slightly lifted blacks, dense reds, and a soft magenta accent in the girls’ clothes. That choice quietly underlines their girlhood and identity without stylizing their reality.
Every decision served visibility, dignity, and balance. I let the story lead, not the look. I used my Color Arc approach to understand the emotional logic of each scene and support it through color.
The finishing process preserves authenticity while ensuring clean, reliable delivery for broadcast and digital platforms.
The documentary reveals hidden realities of girls in northern Kenya: orphans, survivors of violence, children carrying entire families, and young women beginning to find their own voice.
For me, the goal of the grade was simple: let the audience see them clearly - without forcing the image or altering their reality.
“According to Somali culture, a woman has no voice.”
Wajir Girls’ Town shows what happens when girls learn to answer back — through education, safety, and dignity.
This 28-minute documentary follows girls escaping FGM, early marriage, hunger, and silence. It also follows the women who fight to give them a different future.
My role was to shape the color grading and picture finishing so the images protect truth, respect culture, and keep the girls’ voices at the center.
I built the grade to stay restrained, honest, and culturally sensitive.
Working in DaVinci Wide Gamut, I used a simple C-Log → DWG → Rec.709 Gamma 2.4 path with ADX10 shaping and Kodak-based restraint. This approach holds natural skin tones and preserves emotional clarity.
The look relies on deep but slightly lifted blacks, dense reds, and a soft magenta accent in the girls’ clothes. That choice quietly underlines their girlhood and identity without stylizing their reality.
Every decision served visibility, dignity, and balance. I let the story lead, not the look.
I used my Color Arc approach to understand the emotional logic of each scene and support it through color.
The finishing process preserves authenticity while ensuring clean, reliable delivery for broadcast and digital platforms.
The documentary reveals hidden realities of girls in northern Kenya: orphans, survivors of violence, children carrying entire families, and young women beginning to find their own voice.
For me, the goal of the grade was simple:
let the audience see them clearly — without forcing the image or altering their reality.
