Landing its Arab world premiere at the 42 nd Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), the short Somali film Life on The Horn by director Mo Harawe has won a Special Mention, competing within the Cinema of Tomorrow Competition. The award was handed to the film’s director, Mo Harawe at the festival’s closing ceremony that was held Thursday night at the Cairo Opera House.

The film is a co-production of Somalia, Austria and Germany, and has landed its world premiere at Locarno Film Festival, where it won a Special Mention. Life on the Horn sheds light on the issue of the hazardous nuclear waste being released on Somalia’s shores through the story of a young Somali who follows his daily routine in the face of an existential threat coming from the shores.

Written and directed by Mo Harawe who also co-produced it with Alexander von Piechowski and Deko Adano Ali, Life on the Horn stars Xuseen Abdirisaaq, Maxamed Axmed Maxamed and Faadumo Abshir. MAD Solutions handles the film’s distribution across the Arab world.

Mo Harawe is a Somali director, based in Austria. He kicked off his journey as a director in Austria in 2009. Harawe has joined a number of filmmaking workshops and made five short films that were selected and awarded at several international film festivals. Aside from directing, Mo Harawe is a scriptwriter who wrote several feature-length films including To Mogadishu that won the Dor Film award at the Diagonale in 2016. His new feature film The Village Next to Paradise is now in development.