"The Village Next to Paradise" explores a child’s fate to reflect a society at a crossroads - Ethiopia Observer

Somali filmmaker Mo Harawe filmed his characters, his country and the wind in a first poetic and obstinate feature film.

In his first feature film, Mo Harawe features a Somali village swept away by enemy winds and characters who refuse to feel sorry for their fate. At the opposite side of the miserabilistic clichés, this essay reveals a filmmaker, a true one.

"The Village Next to Paradise" explores a child’s fate to reflect a society at a crossroads - Ethiopia Observer

A news bulletin on the UK’s Channel 4 announces: “In Somalia, an American drone strike has killed a Somali terrorist with ties to Al-Qaeda.” With this brief, factual report, The Village Next to Paradise begins—Mo Harawe’s debut feature film, presented in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2024. This detached, dehumanizing Western perspective is precisely what the film seeks to challenge. Over just over two hours, Somali-Austrian director…

In a Somali desert village, a family attempts to rebuild its roots with modesty and dignity. Mo Harawe delivers a humanist debut film about filial love with quiet wisdom.

Le film de la semaine : « Le Village aux portes du paradis » de Mo Harawe

Qui connaît véritablement la Somalie et ses habitants aujourd’hui ? Seuls les médias, occidentaux et audiovisuels surtout, braquent à l’occasion leurs projecteurs sur des actes de guerres, des attentats terroristes et des trafics en tous genres sévissant dans ce territoire malmené par l’Histoire, s’étendant tout en longue bande côtière à l’extrémité orientale de la Corne de l’Afrique dans le golfe d’Aden. Sans négliger le contexte géopolitique p…

Fascinating journey immobile in time with André Gil Mata. Intense adventure of daily life thanks to Mo Harawe. Unexpected feminist comedy in Shanghai signed Shao Yihui.