From Borama to Venice: Somali Cinema Claims a New International Stage

Somalia’s first National Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia is expanding its programme into contemporary cinema, with three days of screenings in Venice from 11 to 13 September featuring filmmakers from Somalia and the diaspora.

The Somalia National Pavilion Film Programme is being presented at Palazzo Caboto as part of the public programme accompanying SADDEXLEEY, Somalia’s inaugural national pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale.

The programme brings together fiction, documentary and experimental films exploring subjects including childhood, memory, grief, faith, family and inherited traditions. The works were selected through an open call and are presented in collaboration with Waaberi Phone, a digital platform and archive focused on Somali arts and culture.

Among the films is Hussein Boon’s Flames of Tradition, a 73-minute feature filmed in Borama with a Somali cast and crew. The film follows two young people navigating a relationship amid inherited tensions and social conflict and is scheduled to screen on 12 September, followed by a live question-and-answer session with Boon.

Other works in the programme include Warya by Somali-Australian filmmaker Miski Omar, Growing Pains II by Wasima Farah and Bakar Elmi, A Journey Back to Allah by Qasim A. Ali and Feisal Mohamed, I’ll Wait for You by the Sea by Rasia Yusuf, Gacal by Mohamed Ali and Surffice (Deeqa) by Somali musician Aar Maanta.

The cinema programme forms part of Somalia’s wider first national participation at La Biennale di Venezia. The official Biennale listing identifies the pavilion’s exhibition as Saddexleey, with Ayan Farah, Asmaa Jama and Warsan Shire as exhibitors. The pavilion is based at Palazzo Caboto in Venice.

The film screenings coincide with the closing period of the Venice International Film Festival, but they are independently presented through the Somalia National Pavilion and are not part of the film festival’s official selection.

For Somalia’s cultural sector, the programme provides an international platform for work produced both inside the country and across its diaspora. It also broadens the country’s presence in Venice beyond the visual-art exhibition by bringing contemporary Somali filmmaking into the pavilion’s public programme.

The Somalia National Pavilion opened in May and runs until 22 November 2026. The cinema programme runs from 11 to 13 September at Palazzo Caboto, Castello 1645, Venice.