The Village Next To ParadiseAfrican Film Days Munich 2024
Directed by Mo Harawe, Somalia/Germany/France/Austria 2024, 132 minutes, feature film, original language with German subtitles. The gravedigger Mamargade lives with his son Cigaal and his divorced sister Araweelo in a Somali village. Competing with large funeral parlours, he finds himself in financial difficulties. To pay the fees for his son’s boarding school, he starts transporting arms in disguised delivery vans.
Directed by Mo Harawe, Somalia/Germany/France/Austria 2024, 132 minutes, feature film, original language with German subtitles. The gravedigger Mamargade lives with his son Cigaal and his divorced sister Araweelo in a Somali village. Competing with large funeral parlours, he finds himself in financial difficulties. To pay the fees for his son’s boarding school, he starts transporting arms in disguised delivery vans.
Meanwhile, Araweelo is seeking to realise her dream of owning her own tailoring business. In the midst of everyday challenges in a complex world, this small family navigates the uncertainties of life through love, trust and confidence.
About the director: Mo (Muhamed/Maxamed) Harawe was born in Mogadishu in 1992, studied visual communication and film at the Kunsthochschule Kassel and lives in Austria since 2009. His most recent short, Will My Parents Come To See Me (2022), tells the story of Farah, who has been sentenced to death and is awaiting his parents’ last visit in a Somali prison. The Village Next To Paradise, his feature-length debut, was awarded the Atlas Workshops Prize at the Festival International du Film Marrakech.
