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Lifeline film image; person with a book on their lap sitting by a window

Lifeline

Standby What is Standby?

When a Somali youth worker is assigned a high-stakes case, her professional responsibilities pull her back toward a community — and a past — she has worked to leave behind. As the boundaries between her work and personal life begin to blur, her story becomes an intimate exploration of belonging, responsibility, and what it means to reconnect with the people and places that have shaped us.

Drawing from director Ilhan Abdullahi’s longstanding work alongside refugee and Black communities in Vancouver, Lifeline brings warmth, humour, and complexity to a story grounded in the Somali Canadian experience. Rather than defining its characters solely through struggle, the film makes room for the joy, resilience, relationships, and contradictions that exist alongside it. Rooted in a distinctly local community while resonating far beyond it, Lifeline offers a thoughtful portrait of the ties that bind us to one another, and the complicated journey of finding a way back to a community once left behind.

Content Considerations: Sound of gun shots

 

Oct 8 & 10: Filmmaker Q&A

 

Presented by

Telefilm logo

Media Partner

Global BC logo

Director
Cast

Muna Abdulahi, Hanad Abdi, Jason Benson, Saman Hasan, Bilal Salad, Abdishacur Ali

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2026

Language

In English and Somali with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
77 min
BC Spotlight Black Cinema Drama Human Rights & Social Justice Women Directors
Constant Departure Studios, Star & Sky Productions

Book Tickets

Thursday October 08

7:00 pm
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles
International Village 10

Saturday October 10

4:30 pm
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles
International Village 8

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Ilhan Abdullahi, Hanad Abdi, Sikandar Atiq, Abdullahi Hassan, Agam Darshi, Muna Abdulahi, Hanad Abdi

Producer

Mimi Dejene

Screenwriter

Ilhan Abdullahi

Cinematography

Alex Torres

Editor

Jasleen Kaur

Production Design

Donna Bozorgebrahimi

Original Music

Josh Santos, Sharma Boy

Ilhan Abdullahi headshot

Ilhan Abdullahi

Ilhan Abdullahi is a Somali-Canadian filmmaker, producer, and community organizer based in Vancouver, on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Shaped by her family’s migration journey and her own lived experiences, her work centers Black, Muslim, and migrant communities, exploring belonging, identity, joy, and community through narrative and documentary storytelling. Her short films have screened at festivals and on platforms, and include Dreamers (2023), Not For Us (2023), and the award-winning comedy Unqualified (2024). Her debut feature Lifeline (2026) was developed through the Whistler Film Festival Screenwriters Lab.

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