Finnish Film Affair winner, produced by It’s Alive Films, No-Office Films and Vico Films, debuts first-look stills Finnish-Somali director Naima Mohamud’s debut feature, “Halima,” was named Best Fiction Project at the Finnish Film Affair. It’s not the first award for the film, which has consistently generated buzz also outside of the country. But it’s the first Finnish feature film directed by a Black woman.
Produced by It’s Alive Films, No-Office Films and Vico Films and currently in post-production, it’s set in 1998 in Finland. Halima is a 10-year-old imaginative Somali girl who’s obsessed with Leonardo DiCaprio and Aqua (the band behind hit “Barbie Girl”), and wants nothing more than to be a pop star. The only trouble is, her family is always on the move, she has never had a friend and her mom refuses to talk about her dad.
We Somalis have been living in Finland for over 35 years, yet most Finns still don’t know anything about us, our culture or how we interact at home. None of those things,” Mohamud tells Variety. I hope that’s what this film does: opens up Finns to understanding Somalis.” But Halima, who’s all about pop, is an outsider also in her own family.
She gets in trouble at school because of her imagination, and her mom just can’t understand the dancing and obsession with music. But she has bigger fish to fry, she has to support the family and make sure everyone’s okay, so she accepts it in her own way.” Other kids aren’t that forgiving. Luckily, Halima is still young enough not to listen to haters – for now.
Her hair is different, so when she cuts it, of course it looks weird. She’s okay with it, though, until other kids start bullying her,” says Mohamud. Maybe I really look horrible?” Some directors find it hard to see things from a child’s perspective.
I really enjoy this innocence of childhood. The older you get, the more you overthink. You start doubting yourself too much.
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