Cinema of Somalia |
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List of Somali films |
Somali Film Agency |
Somaliwood |
The following is a list of Somali films.
The cinema of Italy comprises the films made within Italy or by Italian directors. Since its beginning, Italian cinema has influenced film movements worldwide. Italy is one of the birthplaces of art cinema and the stylistic aspect of film has been one of the most important factors in the history of Italian film. As of 2018, Italian films have won 14 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film as well as 12 Palmes d'Or, one Academy Award for Best Picture and many Golden Lions and Golden Bears.
Somali, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. The country was an important centre for commerce with the rest of the ancient world, and according to most scholars, it was the seat of ancient Land of Punt that thrived during bronze age. During the classic era until the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali states and port towns dominated the regional trade, including the Sultanate of Mogadishu and the Ajuran Sultanate, both centered around the port town of Mogadishu. Additionally, the port towns of Barawe and Merca played significant roles in this commercial network which were part of the Azania city states during classic era. Preceding these medieval states were ancient civilisations such as the legendary Macrobian Kingdom, noted by Herodotus for its wealth and wisdom, and the Barbario civilisation, an early pre-Islamic civilisation that helped lay the foundations for the region's prosperous trade routes.
Italian Somaliland was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia, which was ruled in the 19th century by the Sultanate of Hobyo and Majeerteen in the north, and in the south by the political entities; Hiraab Imamate and the Geledi Sultanate.
The culture of Somalia is an amalgamation of traditions that were developed independently since the Proto-Somali era. The hypernym of the term Somali from a geopolitical sense is Horner and from an ethnic sense, it is Cushite.
The Isaaq is a major Somali clan. It is one of the largest Somali clan families in the Horn of Africa, with a large and densely populated traditional territory.
The Osmanya alphabet, also known as Far Soomaali and, in Arabic, as al-kitābah al-ʿuthmānīyah, is an alphabetic script created to transcribe the Somali language. It was invented by Osman Yusuf Kenadid, the son of Sultan Yusuf Ali Kenadid and brother of Sultan Ali Yusuf Kenadid of the Sultanate of Hobyo.
The Dhulbahante is a Somali clan family, part of the Harti clan which itself belongs to the largest Somali clan-family — the Darod. They are the traditional inhabitants of the physiographic Nugaal in its topographic sense, and its pre-independence administrative sense, which included Doollo. The clan's progenitor is buried at Badweyn.
Muḥammad Ibn Abdallāh Ibn Hassan was a Somali, Scholar, Poet, Religious, Political, Social and Military leader who founded and headed the Dervish movement, which led a holy war against British, Italian and Ethiopian intrusions in the Somali Peninsula. He was famously known by the British Empire as the ''Mad Mullah". In 1917, the Ottoman Empire referred him as the "Emir of the Somali People". Due to his successful completion of the Hajj to Mecca, his complete memorization of the Quran and his purported descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad, his name is sometimes preluded with honorifics such as Hajji, Hafiz, Emir, Sheikh, Mullah or Sayyid. His influence led him to being regarded the “Father of the Somali People”.
The cinema of Somalia refers to the film industry in Somalia. The earliest forms of public film display in the country were Italian newsreels of key events during the colonial period. In 1937 the film Sentinels of Bronze was produced in Ogaden Somalia, with nearly all Somali actors. Growing out of the Somali people's rich storytelling tradition, the first few feature-length Somali films and cinematic festivals emerged in the early 1960s, immediately after independence. Following the creation of the Somali Film Agency (SFA) regulatory body in 1975, the local film scene began to expand rapidly. In the 1970s and early 1980s, popular musicals known as riwaayado were the main driving force behind the Somali movie industry. Epic and period films as well as international co-productions followed suit, facilitated by the proliferation of video technology and national television networks. In the 1990s and 2000s, a new wave of more entertainment-oriented movies emerged. Referred to as Somaliwood, this upstart, youth-based cinematic movement has energized the Somali film industry and in the process introduced innovative storylines, marketing strategies and production techniques.
Taleh is a historical town in Sool region of Somalia. The town served as the capital of the pre-independence Dervish movement.
Somaliwood is an informal name for the Somali film industry that has developed in Columbus, Ohio, where a large Somali diaspora exists. Following the model of Bollywood, the name is a portmanteau of the words "Somali" and "Hollywood", the center of the American film industry.
Buuhoodle, also known as Bohotle, serves as a significant border town for the movement of goods between Khaatumo and the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The surrounding district is rich in livestock with growing agricultural activities.
The Dervish Movement was an armed resistance movement between 1899 and 1920, which was led by the Salihiyya Sufi Muslim poet and militant leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, also known as Sayyid Mohamed, who called for independence from the British and Italian colonisers and for the defeat of Ethiopian forces. The Dervish movement aimed to remove the British and Italian influence from the region and restore an "Islamic system of governance with a Sufi doctrine as its foundation", according to Mohamed-Rahis Hasan and Salada Robleh.
Abdulkadir Ahmed Said is a Somali film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor.
The Somali Film Agency (SFA) was a film regulatory body based in Mogadishu, Somalia.
The Parching Winds of Somalia (1984) is a documentary film produced by Charles Geshekter.
Somali nationalism is a nationalist ideology advocating for the unification of all Somali people who share a common ethnicity, language, and culture, under a single banner. Its earliest manifestations has its roots in the Middle Ages with the Adal Sultanate and the Ajuran Sultanate whilst in the contemporary era its often traced back to the “Mad Mullah”, as he was known by the British Empire during the Scramble for Africa. The Somali Youth League, a political organisation founded in 1943 was one of the most influential political parties in Somalia prior to the country’s unification and independence. The Somali guerrilla militia Al-Shabab is noteworthy for incorporating Somali nationalism into its Islamist ideology.
Said Salah Ahmed is a Somali playwright, poet, educator and filmmaker.
The Hiraab Imamate, also known as the Yacquubi Dynasty, was a Somali kingdom that ruled parts of the Horn of Africa during the 16th century till the 19th century until it was incorporated into Italian Somaliland. The Imamate was governed by the Hiraab Yacquub Dynasty. It was founded by Imam Omar who successfully rebelled against and defeated the Ajuran Sultanate, later establishing an independent kingdom.
Abdallah Mohamed Shihiri was a senior Khusuusi member of the Somali Dervish movement and was part of the movement since its inception. He was long time companion and a childhood friend of Mohamed Abdullah Hassan and notable weapons smuggler. He belonged to the Adan Madoba sub-clan of the Habr Je'lo clan of the Isaaq clan family.