Skip to main content
Neighbour Abdi film image, director Douwe Dijkstra

Neighbour Abdi

Canadian Premiere

How can you understand a violent history? Abdi reenacts his life in Somalia, marked by war and criminality, with the help of his neighbour and filmmaker Douwe Dijkstra (Green Screen Gringo, MODES 2016). Through playful reconstructions in a special effects studio, they embark on a candid and investigative journey through Abdi’s painful past, focusing on the creative process.

Director
Credits
Country of Origin

The Netherlands

Year

2022

Language

In Dutch and Somali with English subtitles

Film Contact
29 min

Featured in:

Parasite Family film image, director Prapat Jiwarangsan

MODES 2

Looking closer at archival images and stories from the past, these artists re-examine and re-create to establish history anew. A daring mix of approaches that excavate new ways of seeing old perspectives.

 

MORE INFO

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Le rêve américain

Dir. Anthony Marciano
126 min

This French crowdpleaser about a couple of nobodies who set themselves up as basketball player agents hits all the right story beats. You wouldn't believe it except that it happens to be true.

Image: © Mika Cotellon

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Everybody to Kenmure Street

Dir. Felipe Bustos Sierra
95 min

This rousing documentary (100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) never puts a foot wrong as it recreates a tense, prolonged stand-off between the police and the citizens of Glasgow when an Immigration Enforcement squad attempt to arrest two men from their homes.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Another World

Dir. Tommy Kai Chung Ng
112 min

This hit anime from Hong Kong gives us an unpredictable, sometimes darkly karmic tale taking place on either side of the afterlife involving a headstrong princess with bad karma and the spirit guide who tries to help her get on a better path.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Time and Water

Dir. Sara Dosa
93 min

Sara Dosa (Fire of Love) turns her attentions from volcanoes to glaciers in this singular, personal collaboration with the Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason, who ruminates on the loss of ties to family and to landscape.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Alipato At Muog (Flying Embers & A Fortress)

Dir. JL Burgos
96 min

Burgos' impassioned documentary about the military abduction of his brother Jonas, an activist and organizer, and the subsequent cover-up, recently became only the second doc to win the Filipino Academy Award for Best Film.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Mistura

Dir. Ricardo de Montreuil
97 min

This foodie film from Peru tells the story of a newly single socialite reinventing herself — and the local cuisine — after her husband has left her for a younger woman. Along the way, she finds support from unexpected places...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Producer

Richard Valk

Screenwriter

Douwe Dijkstra, Abdiwahab Ali

Cinematography

Douwe Dijkstra

Editor

Douwe Dijkstra

Original Music

Rob Peters

Director

Douwe Dijkstra headshot, Neighbour Abdi director

Douwe Dijkstra

Douwe Dijkstra is a filmmaker and visual artist from the Netherlands. He studied Illustration Design at the ArtEZ University of the Arts. His work is a mixture of video, animation, and VFX, and can be described as both humorous and socially engaged. His projects range from short films and documentaries to video installations and theatre performances.