‘Halima,’ ‘Tape,’ ‘The Last Journey’ Triumph at Haugesund Alongside Paola Cortellesi’s ‘There’s Still Tomorrow’: ‘It’s a Modern Masterpiece’
variety.comHaugesund Film Festival. Jurors Bartholomew Sammut, Magdalena Banasik and Petri Kemppinen appreciated the project’s “immense amount of warmth and empathy” and “touching and entertaining” pitch. “[It’s] a film that delves into a story we haven’t yet seen come from Finland,” they argued. “Halima” – produced by Jani Pösö and Anita Hyppönen for Finland’s It’s Alive Films, also behind Oscar entry “Euthanizer,” and Hannu Aukia for No-Office Films – unspools in the 1990s, when a 10-year-old Somali girl struggles to make friends.
Her family, now based in Finland, moves far too often. “Growing up Muslim and African in an often literally winter-white Finnish small town wasn’t easy – we stuck out like a pride of lions in a parking lot,” recalled Mohamud when talking to Variety.
She’s now based in Dublin. “It was a wild time. The hair! The clothes! I really wanted to go back to when boybands, Tamagotchis and popper pants were all the rage.” Presented during the Nordic Co-production Market, the award comes with an invitation to participate in the Producers Network in Cannes and a grant of €3,500 ($3,895) in in-kind support from Totalpost Finland.
The Next Nordic Generation Award – amounting to NOK 20,000 ($1,891) and provided by CAPA – was given to the production team behind the best graduation film from the Nordic film schools, “Tape” by Candace Hui Wing Ki.
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