The ‘90s are again – additionally in Naima Mohamud’s upcoming “Halima,” produced by Finland’s It’s Alive Films, behind Oscar entry “Euthanizer,” and No-Workplace Movies.
“It was a wild time. The hair! The garments! I actually wished to return to when boybands, Tamagotchis and popper pants have been all the craze. And Aqua, the best ‘90s pop band on this planet, [behind] ‘Barbie Woman’!” enthused the director, who was once “obsessed” with its singer Lene Nystrøm.
“I attempted reducing my very own bangs and dyeing my hair with meals coloring to rock her coiffure. It didn’t work, after all, and the next months have been agony. I obtained instructed off for losing meals coloring my mom wanted to make Somali dessert halwa.”
In Mohamud’s partly autobiographical “down-to-earth dramedy about loneliness, childhood and conquering your fears” – presently in improvement and eyeing a 2025 shoot – it will likely be Halima’s flip to expertise such “heartwarming and humorous” misadventures.
A ten-year-old Somali lady, she loves dancing, pop music and Leonardo DiCaprio. However her household, now based mostly in Finland, strikes so typically she is struggling to make associates. Till she meets new classmate, Erika.
“Rising up Muslim and African in an typically actually winter-white Finnish small city wasn’t simple – we caught out like a satisfaction of lions in a car parking zone,” recalled Mohamud.
The movie may also cope with some “heavier” occasions her household has skilled, comparable to loneliness, displacement and even encounters with native skinheads. However she is going to by no means abandon Halima’s personal point-of-view.
“Most 10-year-old youngsters don’t essentially take into consideration racism or tough conditions the identical manner some adults do, so it was necessary for the script to stay optimistic. I feel it’s this infusion of on a regular basis comedy and relatable, enjoyable conditions [combined] with these heavier themes that can make ‘Halima’ a singular and hopeful movie,” she mentioned.
“The reality is, I’m nonetheless a toddler at coronary heart! It’s a difficult casting as I’m searching for an extroverted Finnish-speaking Somali little one who can convincingly play an introvert. However I’m certain we’ll discover her, as a result of the place there’s a will there may be all the time a manner,” she mentioned.
Hope – and particularly humor – will likely be a giant a part of the movie.
“I like tales that restore our religion in life and humanity. I noticed ‘Titanic’ once I was 9 – I instructed my dad and mom I used to be going to see ‘Anastasia,’” she admitted.
“Though ‘Titanic’ is a tragic story, I’ve all the time beloved that Rose [played by Kate Winslet] obtained to stay a wonderful and fulfilling life regardless of the horrors she had witnessed. As a toddler affected by conflict, I noticed this side of the movie as very hopeful.”
Mohamud is a “large fan” of different ‘90s classics, from “Mrs. Doubtfire” to “As Good as It Will get” and Roberto Benigni’s “Life Is Lovely”: “A bittersweet tragicomedy set throughout World Conflict II,” wrote Selection again in 1998.
“‘Halima’ is a love letter to these motion pictures. A dream challenge could be to marry that nostalgia with fashionable sensibilities, and sort out a remake of a type of iconic movies, like ‘The Mother or father Lure,’” she mentioned, pondering the long run.
Supported by the Finnish Movie Basis, “Halima” is produced by Anita Hyppönen – set to participate in Locarno’s networking platform Match Me! in August – and Jani Pösö and Hannu Aukia.
“I really feel extremely fortunate to have such superb producers serving to me. No Workplace’s Hannu Aukia is a really proficient filmmaker and I partnered up with him first on this challenge. He then introduced alongside Jani Pösö and Anita Hyppönen from It’s Alive Movies. All of them make such distinctive movies and TV exhibits, and in addition occur to be among the finest human beings within the enterprise,” mentioned Mohamud.
It’s Alive Movies is behind Oscar submission “Euthanizer,” “The Man Who Did Not Need to See Titanic” or “Snot and Splash – The Thriller of Disappearing Holes,” a gross sales hit at Locarno final 12 months. No-Workplace Movies dealt with “Sound of Violence,” which premiered at 2021’s SXSW.
“Making a movie is an extended, arduous course of and a very powerful factor is to seek out people who find themselves nice, who you get pleasure from working with and who help and perceive your imaginative and prescient,” she noticed, additionally commenting on challenges confronted by the Finnish trade.
“There are only some movie faculties in Finland and the primary one, Aalto [University School of Arts, Design and Architecture] accepted simply two out of 138 candidates to check movie directing final 12 months. It’s tougher to get into a movie college in Finland than it’s to get into Harvard.”
She added: “There are such a lot of proficient younger individuals who perhaps aren’t given the chance to show themselves as a result of they will’t get into these establishments – and that features many POCs. It’s additionally good to remember that simply over 30 years in the past the variety of the folks with overseas backgrounds within the Finnish inhabitants was at 0.8% and now that quantity is 8%. So there positively has been, and there will likely be change.”
“With a extra culturally numerous Finland, we see a rustic and an trade poised to inform distinctive tales with common themes and a worldwide attain.”
