Calling movie clip outside a movie clip

How would I write a function in a movie clip to call a movie clip outside the movie clip with the function. Is it similar to calling a movie within a movie, such as below?

country.nd_state.addEventListener (MouseEvent.CLICK, function() 
	
});

Basically, I have a movie clip in nd_state with the click mouse event, when clicked though I want to, for example, control the alpha of a movie clip at the top level of the scene.

Hopefully I’m making sense, let me know if you are not understanding what I’m asking.

Thanks!

Tim