| Gewächshaus | Visions of East Africa |

The Village Next to Paradise von Mo Harawe © Freibeuter Film

“Can I tell you about my dream?” asks little Cigaal, the protagonist in Mo Harawe’s The Village Next to Paradise. Based on the Austrian-Somali production, the Diagonale, together with Gewächshaus – Verein für Diversität im Film, is opening its program for visions, dreams and new narrative forms from East Africa. In her documentary No Simple Way Home, Akuol de Mabior meets her deceased father, the leader of the independence movement in South Sudan, on banknotes and accompanies her mother, the country’s vice president, in the founding of the new state. In the comedy Bufis, inspired by true events, there is a fine line between dream and nightmare for exiled Somalis who want to emigrate to the USA. The films are united by great narrative power and creativity. Based on their protagonists from Somalia, Kenya and South Sudan, they tell personal and politically highly relevant stories that also enrich Austrian cinema with new perspectives.

In a workshop on March 30 with Mo Harawe, Akuol de Mabior and Nina Kusturica, Gewächshaus will explore how self-determined storytelling can create a homeland and historiography. Registration with a brief motivation for participation by March 21 at community@gewaechshaus.network