Somalia: Mogadishu National Theater reopens after 30 years of closure
Viewers are waiting to see the first films shown in the Mogadishu National Theater for 30 years, on Wednesday, September 22, 2021. © ABDIRAHMAN YUSUF / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
It was a historic evening on Wednesday September 22, 2021 in Mogadishu in the capital of Somalia.
The solemn reopening of the Mogadishu National Theater took place under high security after having been closed for 30 years.
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On the program of this evening, against a ticket costing 10 dollars, it was possible to discover the work of a young Somali filmmaker, Ibrahim CM. For him, it was a great chance to be able to show his film in this theater and to have been able to participate in the reopening of the place: “
We are very lucky to be the first to have presented our work in this theater. We wanted to give people hope, to show a future, so that they can see what they can do now.
"
“
We showed two short films
,” says the young filmmaker.
The first one is called
Hoos,
it's a horror film that deals with the problematic relationship between a mother and her daughter, which is brought up in Western culture.
The second is a comedy and it seems like the audience preferred this one: there is so much conflict in their life, with comedy it is more affordable for them.
"
Built in the 1960s by China then chaired by Mao Tse-Tung, the building had served as a headquarters for militiamen from 1991, then had been targeted by the Shebab jihadists two weeks after a brief reopening in 2012.
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