The Village Next to Paradise

In the windswept village of «Paradies» a small patchwork family faces the challenges of everyday life. The father gets by on odd jobs, while his newly divorced sister dreams of opening her own tailor shop. When little Cigaal one day finds the school doors closed, the two become resourceful in their efforts to still provide him with a good education. No easy task in unstable Somalia, yet the family bonds grow stronger.

Somalia could be a paradise, if it weren’t for the lack of state structures, clan conflicts, geopolitics, and the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab. Somali-Austrian filmmaker Mo Harawe uses the political present only sketchily as a backdrop, embedding within it the everyday life of a small family. His feature debut premiered at Cannes and was praised for its meticulously composed images, in which the actors, through their laconic performances, lend the characters a mischievous touch.