Dhalinyaro screening with director, Lula Ali Ismaïl

Dhalinyaro (2017), meaning ‘youth’ in Somali, is a coming-of-age film set in Djibouti that tells the story of three teenage girls as they prepare for their final qualification exams to enter university. It is the first feature film to come out of Djibouti in its history, and part of what some have described as a current “renaissance” in Somali and East African cinema. The film screening will be followed by a conversation between Safia Aidid (History/African Studies Centre) and Dhalinyaro director Lula Ali Ismaïl with audience Q&A, and a reception. Free registration at Eventbrite.

Lula Ali Ismaïl is a Djiboutian-Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter. Her first feature film, Dhalinyaro (Jeunesse/Youth), was released in 2017 to wide acclaim. She is currently filming her second feature film entitled Nuur, adapted from the novel The Youth of God by Somali-Canadian writer Hassan Ghedi Santur and funded by Telefilm Canada.

Safia Aidid is a historian specializing in the Horn of Africa and an Assistant Professor of History and African Studies at the University of Toronto.