The ’90s are again, and so are Naima Mohamud’s upcoming Halima, produced by Finland’s It is Alive Movies and approaching the heels of Oscar-winning movies like Euthanizer and Produced by No-Workplace Movies.
“It was a loopy time. Hair! This clothes! I actually wish to return to when boy bands, Tamagotchis, and pop pants had been all the fashion. And Aqua, the best 90s pop band on the planet, [behind] ‘Barbie doll’! Stated the director, who was as soon as “obsessed” with the movie’s lead singer, Lene Nystrøm.
“I attempted slicing my very own bangs and dyeing my hair with meals coloring to alter her coiffure. In fact, it did not work and the following few months had been painful. I used to be responsible of losing the meals coloring my mother wanted to make Somalia desserts. and be reprimanded Halwa”.
In Mohamed’s semi-autobiographical “sensible comedy about loneliness, childhood and overcoming fears” (presently in manufacturing and scheduled to be shot in 2025), it will likely be Halima’s flip to dwell by this “heat and humorous” misadventure.
A ten-year-old Somali woman who loves dancing, pop music and Leonardo DiCaprio. However her household now lives in Finland and strikes ceaselessly, making it tough for her to make mates. Till she met her new classmate Erica.
“It wasn’t simple rising up Muslim and African in a Finnish city that was white in winter – we stood out like a pack of lions in a parking zone,” Mohammed recollects.
The movie may also cowl a few of the “heavier” occasions her household went by, equivalent to loneliness, homelessness and even encounters with native skinheads. However she would by no means hand over on Halima’s personal views.
“Most 10-year-olds do not essentially take into consideration racism or tough conditions the best way some adults do, so it was vital for the script to remain upbeat. I feel it is a mix of on a regular basis comedy and relatable humorous conditions. [combined] These heavier themes will make Halima a singular and hopeful movie,” she stated.
“To be trustworthy, I am nonetheless a child at coronary heart! It was a difficult casting as a result of I used to be searching for an outgoing, Finnish-speaking Somali child who may convincingly play an introvert. However I am positive we She can be discovered as a result of the place there’s a will, there’s a method,” she stated.
Hopefully — and particularly humor — can be an enormous a part of the movie.
“I like tales that restore our religion in life and humanity. I noticed ‘Titanic’ after I was 9 – I instructed my dad and mom I used to be going to see ‘Anastasia,'” she admits.
“Though “Titanic” is a tragic story, I’ve at all times favored the rose. [played by Kate Winslet] Regardless of the horrors she witnessed, she nonetheless lived a great and fulfilling life. As a toddler affected by conflict, I discovered this movie to be very hopeful.
Mohamud is a “large fan” of different ’90s classics, together with “Mrs.” “Doubtfire” to “As Good as It Will get” and Roberto Bernini’s “Life is Lovely”: “A bittersweet tragicomedy set towards the backdrop of World Battle II,” writes kind Again in 1998.
“‘Halima’ is a love letter to those movies. A dream undertaking to mix nostalgia with fashionable sensibilities and remake a kind of iconic movies like ‘The Mother or father Lure,'” she muses Stated sooner or later tense.
Produced by Anita Hyppönen with help from the Finnish Movie Basis, Halima will take part in Locarno’s on-line platform Match Me! August – additionally Jani Pösö and Hannu Aukia.
“I really feel very fortunate to have such nice producers serving to me. Hannu Aukia of No Workplace is an extremely gifted filmmaker who I first labored with on this undertaking. He then introduced on It is Alive Jani Pösö and Anita Hyppönen from Movies. They each make such distinctive movies and TV reveals and in addition occur to be among the many finest within the trade,” stated Mohamed.
It is Alive Movies is the producer of the Oscar-winning movies “Euthanasia”, “The Man Who Did not Wish to See Titanic” or “Snot and Splash – The Thriller of the Vanishing Gap”, which had been large hits on the Locarno field workplace final 12 months. No-Workplace Movies produces “Sounds of Violence,” which premiered at SXSW 2021.
“Making a movie is a protracted and tough course of, and a very powerful factor is to search out good individuals, who you take pleasure in working with, who help and perceive your imaginative and prescient,” she commented, additionally commenting on the challenges dealing with the Finnish movie trade.
“There are only some movie colleges in Finland, the principle one is Aalto [University School of Arts, Design and Architecture] Final 12 months, solely two had been admitted out of 138 candidates to check movie directing. Stepping into movie faculty in Finland is harder than entering into Harvard.
She added: “There are a lot of gifted younger individuals who could not have the chance to show themselves as a result of they can’t enter these establishments – together with many POC. It’s value mentioning that greater than 30 years in the past, the variety of individuals with overseas backgrounds within the Finnish inhabitants was 0.8%, and now that quantity is 8%, so it has undoubtedly occurred and can change.
“As Finnish tradition turns into extra various, we see a rustic and an trade prepared to inform distinctive tales with common themes and international impression.”
