| Mother Mother | |
| Director: | K'naan Warsame |
| Music: | Isobel Waller-Bridge |
| Cinematography: | César Charlone |
| Runtime: | 107 minutes |
Mother Mother is a 2024 drama film written and directed by K'naan Warsame,[1] in his directorial debut after being previously best known as a hip hop musician. The film stars Maan Youssouf Ahmed as Qalifo, a widowed mother in Somalia who must go to extraordinary lengths to restore the peace after her son, Asad (Elmi Rashid Elmi), is drawn into a violent confrontation with American tourist Liban (Hassan Najib).[2]
On a lonely farm in rural Somalia, the widowed Qalifo (Maan Youssouf Ahmed) and her college-age son Asad (Elmi Rashid Elmi) raise camels. Asad lives in the shadow of his late father's violent reputation and bristles at Qalifo's strict parenting, escaping to a nearby village whenever he can. And when Asad learns his girlfriend has been seeing another boy, the American visitor Liban (Hassan Najib), a confrontation is inevitable.
The film was partially based on a real incident from Warsame's own life in Somalia prior to his family escaping to Canada as refugees.[3] The lead character is named in memory of his aunt, who died of cancer just as production began on the film.[4]
A co-production of companies from Kenya, Somalia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, the film premiered in the Discovery program at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.[5]
Beandra July of IndieWire graded the film a B+, writing that "by the end of 'Mother Mother' it dawned on me that this is precisely the kind of movie I come to TIFF for, a real voice that disabuses me of my assumptions, and my cynicism from the pain of watching so many movies that erase and belittle the Qalifas of the world. A movie that sends me back out into the light of day wondering."[2]
At TIFF, the film won the FIPRESCI Prize.[6]