JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia), Dec 10 : A young former Somalian refugee has donned the filmmaker mantle to shake off the stereotype of sea pirates around his country, with a little help from Bollywood.
“My filmmaking journey started with Shah Rukh Khan,” says Somalian-origin debutant director Mohammed Sheikh. “A significant portion of my inspiration to become a filmmaker came from Bollywood,” adds Sheikh, who credits the Bollywood mega star with a big role in influencing him to choose a career in cinema.
“Somali people, African people, Asian people, we have other things to offer, other than negativity and just always bad stereotypes,” explains Sheikh about his film, ‘Barni’, which had its world premiere at the fifth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival, which began in the historical coastal city of Jeddah on December 4.
‘Barni’, only the fourth Somalian feature film ever produced since the East African country on the coast of the Indian Ocean made its first movie in the 1960s, looks at the daily life and struggles of ordinary people through the story of a nine-year-old girl who goes missing during a village wedding.
“One of the reasons I wanted to make a funny, coming-of-age movie about young people is to also just stay away from the negative narrative of Somalians as sea pirates,” says Sheikh, who was born in a camp for Somalian refugees in neighbouring Ethiopia.
“I’m trying my best to show that in Somalia people exist there too, who live their normal lives. There are two sides to the story always. To some people, the pirates are protectors of the sea because that part of the world is a dump for toxic waste. It’s actually called the graveyard of the world. And there is also illegal fishing. So technically, when the pirates are coming, they are protecting the sea,” says the 28-year-old filmmaker.
“But at the same time, they are also attacking ships, which are transporting goods. So, it doesn’t make them right at the same time. I stay away from stories that dehumanising humans in general. I would like to see other alternatives,” adds Sheikh, who migrated to the United States a decade ago to help him earn a degree and seek a better life.
“I was born in refugee camp in Ethiopia after my parents fled Somalia during the civil war which started in the 1990s. Later, the United Nations sponsored a lot of families to go to the United States in 2013 as refugees and I went to the US to study,” says Sheikh.
‘Barni’, which is part of the prestigious Red Sea Competition section, tells the story of a teenager and two friends from the countryside searching for her younger sister in a nearby city.
“I wanted to tell a story that encapsulates the culture of our people, our villages, weddings, the camels. If a person or an animal goes missing in a village, everybody goes to look for it. I also like to talk about the perspective of the young people in my country,” says Sheikh.
The film was shot last year in Djibouti, which borders Somalia, with non-professional actors from the majority ethnic Somalian population in the country.
For Sheikh, like most of his compatriots, Indian cinema was their only source of entertainment. “Bollywood has an immense amount of influence in Africa because they are dubbed into Somali language when released in theatres in Somalia,” says Sheikh.
“Shah Rukh Khan is a bigger mega star than any other Hollywood actor for Somalians. He was the first star or actor that I’ve seen. So to me, a significant portion of my inspiration to become a filmmaker came from that. I know the songs in Amir Khan’s films by heart. I always listen to them in the car,” says the filmmaker.
“Hopefully I will meet Shah Rukh Khan one day, inshallah.”
(UNI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
