Mo Harawe 

In May 2020, there was a devastating fire that completely destroyed the premises of the Somali association. The association is the largest association of Somalis living in Austria. It is also the umbrella organization for all members of the Somali community in Vienna and the surrounding area. In addition, the association is the first point of contact for new arrivals. In essence, however, the work of the association consists of supporting all Somali members in the process of social integration into Austrian society and, in addition to integration, also deals with sports and cultural activities. Furthermore, the association is a meeting place for all Somalis, no matter if woman, man, child or adult. It is a place to chat, to drink tea together; a place to talk about the old life in Somalia, the present in Austria, but also about faith or music. Since this meeting place no longer exists, all these conversations now take place on the streets, in parks and in pubs. A short documentary, in which interviews are conducted with the people concerned, will show what significance the premises and the association have for the members.

Mo Harawe is a Somali filmmaker who was born in Mogadishu. He discovered his passion for cinema through art school he attended as a teenager in Somalia. Since 2009, Mo Harawe has been living in Vienna, where his journey as a filmmaker began. He attended numerous film workshops and realized five short films that were screened and awarded at international film festivals. Mo Harawe also works as a screenwriter and has written several scripts for feature films. His film script "To Mogadishu", which he developed in the DIVERSE STORIES SCRIPT LAB, won the DOR FILM award at the Diagonale Film Festival in 2016. In 2019, Muhamed Harawe won the BKA Start Scholarship for his new feature film "The Village Next to Paradise".