Around the world, over 640 million women and girls have been forced to marry before the age of 18. Child marriage is a serious violation of human rights that ActionAid, an international organization active in 71 countries, works to end through education, women’s empowerment, and political advocacy. With the support of its donors, ActionAid promotes girls’ education to reduce vulnerability and create new opportunities for them and their communities.

“I’ll Marry When I Want” is not only the central message of the campaign, but especially the title of a real poem by Eileen Piri, a thirteen-year-old girl from Malawi who has experienced the tragedy of child marriage firsthand. Her powerful and rebellious verses are a manifesto of freedom and become the voiceover of the film. As her words resonate, we see girls free to simply be girls, playing loudly, chaotically, even destructively, just as children everywhere love to do. But this time, their liberating energy is directed at breaking symbols traditionally associated with marriage, such as bouquets and wedding dresses. An act of destruction that calls on everyone to support ActionAid, end child marriage, and give every girl the right to choose her own future.