Outdoor Screening - Dhalinyaro

In Collaboration with Positive Productions Inc & Luuq Cafe

Luuq Cafe is a Somali women co-owned pop-up cafe based in Northern Virginia. Named after the city of Luuq on the banks of the Jubba River, our cafe is rooted in the belief that culture lives in what we eat, what we remember, and what we pass down.

Through spiced teas, handcrafted Somali bites, and gatherings centered around film, dialogue, and community, we aim to honor that inheritance.

Co-directed by Lula Ali Ismail

Dhalinyaro is a coming-of-age story that follows the lives of three high school students, Deka, Asma and Hibo, during the year of their baccalaureate, which is equivalent to A-levels in the UK. This is a time of transition when these girls become young women, and the film is consciously centred within the context of contemporary Djibouti, honouring the cultures, and most importantly the voices of its youth. Indeed,…