‘Halima,’ First Finnish Pic Ever by Black Female Filmmaker, Bags Fiction Project Prize, ‘Sauna Diplomacy’ Named Best Genre Project at Finnish Film Affair

Among other industry awards Norway’s ‘11 Hours’ won Best Nordic Project and Finland’s ‘Darkness Counts' is voted Best Documentary Project

By Annika Pham

Annika Pham

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Former BBC journalist Naima Mohamud’s heartfelt and warm comedy “Halima,” about a 10-year-old Somali girl trying to fit in Finland in 1998 took home Helsinki’s Finnish Film Affair’s top prize for Best Fiction on Thursday evening.

The award was handed out by the jury, including U.S. producer and executive Jodi Hildebrand (formerly at Condé Nast and Marvel Studios), the British Film Institute’s Phoebe Hall and FEST-New Directors festival director Fernando Vasquez, who said: “The director’s energetic and authentic voice shone through in the pitch and translates into what promises to be a compelling lead performance. This is a 90s tinged snapshot of a Finland we haven’t seen on screen before, by a fresh Finnish voice.”

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