Søren Steen Jespersen og Nasib Farah's documentary "Warriors from the North," about Somali-born Danes going abroad to take part in holy war in the services of the terror movement al-Shabaab, celebrated its North American premiere at Hot Docs International Documentary Festival in Toronto, where it received the Best Mid-Length Documentary Award on Friday.
"We chose this film for the way it skillfully weaves complex story lines from multiple perspectives without losing its visual poetry; ultimately delivering a shocking, immediate and personal film that transcends recent headlines," said the jury's motivation.
Read the essay We Have to Learn from the Warriors from the North
"Warriors from the North" had its international premiere at IDFA 2014. The film is produced by Helle Faber for Made in Copenhagen.
Warriors from the North
Abukar, a Somali, lives a life at the very bottom of the Danish society. His son, Mohammed, has joined al-Shabaab in Somalia, perhaps to avoid a life like his father's. Abukar now fears that Mohammed will be the next suicide bomber to carry out his mission, a fear that seems very reasonable, as two out of the seven Danish-Somali men recruited together with Mohammed have already become "martyrs".
