Somalia: National Theater Reopens for Screening After Three Decades

By Mohamed Kahiye

Mogadishu — Somalia's National Theater in Mogadishu held a landmark event Wednesday night, screening movies for the first time in three decades.

The theater was recently renovated and reopened after being destroyed twice - once in Somalia's civil war, and then again in a 2012 suicide bombing.

More than 1,500 people attended the screenings.

The two films, Hoos, meaning "shadow" in Somali, and the other, Date of Hell, were screened in the Chinese-built theater constructed in 1967.

Starring Egypt-based actor Kaifa Jama, the short films depict some of the challenges faced by young Somalis brought up outside the country and who are not familiar with Somali and Islamic culture.

Jama said the films were produced in Cairo with no resources and largely on volunteers among her peers, with no payment for actors and actresses. She said the producers convinced hotels and hospitals to let them film on their grounds in exchange for advertisements in order to avoid extra costs.

This article originally appeared in All Africa.

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