Skip to main content
Samia film image; woman holding up one arm

Samia

Panorama

This event has passed

Getting to the Olympics is always a Herculean challenge, but getting to the Olympics with no formal training while your country is in the midst of a civil war is something else entirely. The real-life story of Somali sprinter Samia Yusuf Omar (played by Ilham Mohamed Osman) makes for compelling and empathetic drama here. Despite many setbacks and personal tragedy, this young woman receives support from family and loved ones and eventually finds herself on the biggest stage in the world of sports, the Beijing Olympics 2008, at the age of just 17. Her success, however, draws unwanted attention from the powers that be…

Adapting the Italian best seller Don’t Tell Me You’re Afraid, director Yasemin Şamdereli tells Samia’s story through a delicate mixture of colour, darkness, joy, and adversity. The film recounts the inspirational story of a young girl whose example extends the rights of women around the world, offering moments of hope even amidst the brutality of war.

 

Community Partner

 

 

Director
Cast

Ilham Mohamed Osman, Kaltuma Mohamed Abdi, Fathia Mohamed Absie

Credits
Country of Origin

Italy/Germany/Belgium

Year

2024

Language

In Arabic, English and Somali with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+

At International Village

19+

At Fifth Avenue

102 min
Award Winners Black Cinema Drama Human Rights & Social Justice Women Directors
Indyca, Rai Cinema, Neue Bioskop, Tarantula, Bim Produzione, Momento Film

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Piergiuseppe “Beppe” Serra, Karim Cham, Michael Kölmel

Producer

Simone Catania, Dietmar Güntsche, Anja-Karina Richter, Michele Fornasero, Francesca Portalupi, Martin Rohé

Screenwriter

Yasemin Şamdereli, Nesrin Samdereli, Giuseppe Catozzella

Cinematography

Florian Berutti

Editor

Mechthild Barth

Production Design

Paola Bizzarri

Original Music

Rodrigo D’Erasmo

Yasemin Şamdereli headshot; Samia director

Yasemin Şamdereli

Yasemin Şamdereli is a German actress, screenwriter, and director best known for her film Almanya: Welcome to Germany (2011). Her latest film, Samia, was made with the collaboration of Deka Mohamed Osman and had its world premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival.

Filmography: Almanya: Welcome to Germany (2011); Together Forever – Secrets of 50+ Years of Marriage (2018);

Photo by dekamohamedosman

 

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

Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World

Dir. Sasha Waters
91 min

Sasha Waters' documentary takes us through the life of America's best-selling late twentieth century poet, a private woman who shared her innermost thoughts and made them indispensable.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

Late Fame

Dir. Kent Jones
96 min

Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

American Doctor

Dir. Poh Si Teng
93 min

One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Filipiñana

Dir. Rafael Manuel
100 min

A luxury golf course in the Philippines is the microcosm for Rafel Manuel's vastly assured feature debut, a striking composed comedy which mixes languid surrealism with pointed political satire.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

How to Divorce During the War

Dir. Andrius Blazevicius
108 min

Screenwriter Vytus is left reeling when on successive days his wife demands a divorce and Russia invades Ukraine. Blazevicius' masterful feature emerges as an engrossing satire about virtue signaling, nationalism, good intentions, and survival modes.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Kindergarten

Dir. Jean-François Caissy
84 min

In this charming Quebecois documentary, we are invited to look closely at the interactions of children between the ages of 1 and 5, a period in which they are just beginning to learn about social interactions. And yet how much they resemble ourselves!

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre