Country: Somalia, France
Year: 2024
Duration: 132
In a windy Somali village, a newly assembled family must navigate between their different aspirations and the complex world surrounding them. Love, trust and resilience will power them through their life paths.
Participated in the TorinoFilmLab
Biography
film director
Mo Harawe
(Mogadishu, Somalia) is a Somali and Austrian writer and director. He has been studying Visual Communication and Film at Kunsthochschule Kassel. The Village Next to Paradise premiered in Cannes Un Certain regard and is his debut feature film, following his acclaimed short films Life on the Horn (2020) that earned a Special Mention at Locarno International Film Festival, while Will My Parents Come to See Me (2022) was nominated for the European Film Award, won the Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand as well as German LOLA and Austrian Film Award for Best Short Film in 2023.
FILMOGRAFIA
Wait a minute (cm, 2012), The Other Side (cm, 2014), Identity (cm, 2015), One Last Moment (cm, 2016), The Story of the Polar Bear That Went to Africa (cm, 2018), 1947 (cm, 2019), Life on the Horn (cm, 2020), Will My Parents Come to See Me (cm, 2022), The Village Next to Paradise (2024).
Declaration
film director
“For me, the title works on two levels. On the one hand, there is this village by the sea, where it’s very beautiful, so it relates to the idea of being ‘next to paradise.’ There are lovely places in Somalia, with lovely, wild beaches. On another level, this name can represent Somalia itself; the country has such incredible potential. It has the longest coastline in Africa, with the Indian Ocean on one side and the Gulf of Aden on the other, and a population of less than 15 million. However, there are so many problems in the country, caused both by people there and by outside forces. For me, Somalia is a country ‘next to paradise;’ it is potentially a kind of paradise, but for many reasons that potential isn’t being realized.
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR, SCREENPLAY: Mo Harawe. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Mostafa El Kashef. EDITING: Joana Scrinzi. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Nuur Abdulkadir. COSTUMES: Sarah Ismail. SOUND: Willis Abuto, Anne Gibourg, Guadalupe Cassius, Christophe Vingtrinier. CAST: Ahmed Ali Farah, Anab Ahmed Ibrahim, Ahmed Mohamud Saleban. PRODUCTION: Sabine Moser, Oliver Neumann, Jean Christophe Reymond, Nicole Gerhards for FreibeuterFilm, Kazak Productions, NiKo Film, Maanmaal ACC.
CONTACT: Totem Film hello@totem-films.com
