Chair of the Board

Mo Harawe

Mo Harawe is a Somali-Austrian screenwriter and director born in Mogadishu. He studied Visual Communication and Film at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. His debut feature film, “The Village Next to Paradise,” was selected for the un certain regard section of the 2024 Cannes film festival. It followed his acclaimed short films “Life on the Horn” (2022), which received an honorable mention at the Locarno International Film Festival, and “Will My Parents Come to See Me” (2022), nominated for the European Film Award. It also won the Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand, as well as the German LOLA and the Austrian Film Award for Best Short Film in 2023.

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office@maanmaalcenter.org

Executive Director

Farah Muhamed Ahmed

Farah Muhamed Ahmed (Farah Binin Boss), born in 1984 in Erigavo, Sanaag, Somalia, is a professional translator, researcher, academic, and novelist. He graduated from the International University of Africa in 2009 with a degree in Languages. Farah has worked as an editor for Yagleelka Aayaha Magazine and as the general manager of Som Press for Printing and Translation Center.

He has lectured on Arabic and Somali literature at East Africa University and Nugal University and directed the African Institute for Arabic Language for Non-Native Speakers at East Africa University in Garowe. Farah has written numerous books in Arabic and Somali and translated many works between the two languages. He has participated in various cultural and literary competitions and attended numerous seminars and international conferences. In 2023, he was awarded the Hamad Award For Translation and International Understanding in Qatar.

Get in touch:
office@maanmaalcenter.org