Director Ahmed Farah’s new 10-part TV series, Arday, addresses controversial issues such as drugs, rape, and pornography in Somalia. Farah was inspired by young Somalis on TikTok and wanted to give them a voice. The show follows high school students navigating the challenges of Mogadishu, a city emerging from a 30-year conflict.
Arday stars 60 novice actors, aged 16 to 21, who were all paid for the three months of filming. The show was filmed on the streets of Mogadishu, which had never been done before for a major Somali series. However, filming posed challenges, such as actors struggling to film a suicide blast scene, as some of them narrowly missed being blown up in an attack last October that killed at least 100 people.
One of the main storylines in the series involves the drugging and rape of a girl at a party, which is filmed by some of her classmates who try to blackmail her with threats that they will post the video online if she does not pay up. The sharing of videos of women being sexually abused is a growing problem in Somalia, and men pay to watch these videos, which are posted on Telegram channels.
Despite opposition from some families, Arday’s not insubstantial budget was entirely funded by Somalis, and the series is being launched on Bile TV, a Somali channel. While some young people in Mogadishu said it was important that the series addressed tricky topics, members of the older generation were appalled by the themes. Nevertheless, Arday is set to break new ground in Somalia’s film industry and provide a voice for the country’s youth.
