On Tuesday, a hush suddenly fell over the anxious crowd in front of NYU's Cantor Film Center. They were there for the New York premiere of "Africa Rising: The Grassroots Movement to End Female Genital Mutilation," and the evening's host, Meryl Streep, had just arrived.

As usual, Streep radiated elegance and grace, but she walked past the crowd with the focus of an average New York pedestrian. As moviegoers were finally let into the building, the sound of drums drifted out from the theater speakers and into the lobby, setting the tone of the event.

The film, directed by Paula Heredia, describes the crisis of female genital mutilation (commonly referred to as FGM) in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali, Somalia and Tanzania. The film tells the dramatic stories of victimized young women — some as young as 5 years old — as well as stories from activists who have founded awareness and aid organizations that help FGM victims.

One might assume that FGM is a male-dominated crime, but Heredia's film reveals that the majority of those performing circumcisions in Africa are women — and it is a family trade. While FGM was originally performed as a religious and cultural tradition, it is now used to "control women's sexuality," according to the film.

The main pioneering activists in the film, all of whom were present at the screening, include Agnes Pareyio, founder of the Tasaru Ntomonok Initiative, a rescue center for girls escaping FGM; Kadidia Sibide, founder of the Association for Monitoring and Orientation on Traditional Practices, which has worked with 80 villages in Mali to abandon the practice; and Efua Dorkenoo, the first activist to bring the issue of FGM to the attention of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

The film ends by highlighting Fanta Camara, a girl from Bamako, Mali. Camara was 5 years old when she was circumcised. She not only suffered the temporary side effects of the procedure — excessive bleeding for days or weeks, complete loss of sexual sensation and infection — but she was permanently damaged, incapable of controlling her urination. For nearly 10 years, Fanta's parents assumed she had done this by choice.

So now what? Is there any way to put an end to this atrocious crime?

In the panel discussion led by Streep and translated by Taina Bien-Aimé, Sibide said "there needs to be a law in Mali" against FGM and urged the audience to write letters to that country's government.

Dorkenoo said: "A foundation has been made, there is action on the ground, [but it] needs engagement of all sectors to build up a movement, it needs to be mainstream embedded; that will strengthen the grassroots movement."

"Africa Rising" proved to be an astoundingly poignant film, conveying the truth of the brutality while leaving a lingering promise of hope. "FGM should be a major human rights issue; this advocacy will raise its profile, trigger an increase in international support," said Ruhakana Rugunda, Uganda's ambassador to the United Nations, standing up from his seat. "Let's work together to be a powerful crusade so this mutilation of women can end."