Finnish-Somali filmmaker Naima Mohamud has opened up about her upcoming debut feature Halima, saying the film is long overdue for a country where the Somali community has lived for decades.
The film, which recently won Best Fiction Project at the Finnish Film Affair, is currently in post-production and is produced by It’s Alive Films, No-Office Films and Vico Films.
Set in Finland in 1998, Halima follows a 10-year-old Somali girl whose imagination and love for pop culture often set her apart from the people around her.
Halima dreams of becoming a pop star and is fascinated by Leonardo DiCaprio and Aqua, the Danish-Norwegian group behind the hit song “Barbie Girl.” However, her childhood is complicated by her family’s constant movement, her lack of friends and her mother’s refusal to discuss her father.
For Mohamud, the story also provides an opportunity to introduce Finnish audiences to aspects of Somali family life and culture that she believes remain unfamiliar to many people in the country.
“To be honest, I really think that a film like ‘Halima’ was a long time coming. 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,” Mohamud told Variety.
“This film might help someone with a Somali neighbor finally get a glimpse. I hope that’s what this film does: opens up Finns to understanding Somalis,” she added.
The filmmaker also described Halima as a child whose ambitions sometimes clash with the expectations of her mother.
Halima’s mother is primarily concerned with supporting the family and keeping everyone safe, while her daughter is consumed by music, dancing and dreams of becoming a star.
“She has all these dreams of becoming a big star, which confuses her mom. She gets in trouble at school because of her imagination, and her mom just can’t understand the dancing and obsession with music,” Mohamud explained.
The young girl also faces bullying from other children after attempting to copy the hairstyle of Aqua singer Lene.
Mohamud said Halima initially has the confidence of a child who does not yet worry too much about how others see her, but that begins to change as she encounters ridicule.
“She’s still a child who’s not too self-conscious, but she’s slowly starting to understand that maybe this is embarrassing? Maybe I really look horrible?” she said.
The director said her own connection with childhood helped her approach the character naturally.
“I’m still a kid!” Mohamud joked, explaining that she has always been drawn to the innocence and fearlessness of children.
She recalled being highly curious as a child and said that mindset influenced her filmmaking. Mohamud also remembered deciding to become a filmmaker at 14 without thinking about how difficult the journey might be.
That sense of possibility is central to Halima, which she hopes will ultimately leave audiences with a feeling of joy.
Mohamud described herself as a filmmaker who prefers creating stories that make audiences feel good rather than leaving them emotionally drained.
“I make films that I hope make you feel good when you leave the cinema. A tear here or there is great, but at the end, I want people to say: ‘You know what? Life is amazing,’” she said.
Halima is also notable for its place in Finnish cinema history as the first Finnish feature film directed by a Black woman.
The filmmaker said she is interested in embracing her own creative identity rather than attempting to imitate other filmmakers or cinematic traditions.
While discussing another serious short-film project she had written, Mohamud explained that she knew she was not the right person to direct it because of her preference for humour and uplifting storytelling.
For her, that self-awareness is part of becoming a filmmaker.
With Halima, Mohamud is bringing together childhood, Somali identity, family, music and humour in a story she hopes will connect with audiences both in Finland and beyond.
