Filmmaker Statement

Xagal (Angle) is a super 8 film that visualizes the transformations of an eldest daughter through the lens of a Somali-American raised by eldest daughters of eldest daughters. The film invites audience into an intimate space and nostalgia starting with a Somali lullaby sung by my hooyo (mother), me and my sister Najla. We laugh as hooyo hasn't sung this to us in a long time and we sing together with a paper in front of us with lyrics written by hooyo in Somali as we all forgot and try to remember our childhood tune. The transformation of childhood to adulthood is visualized in three characters: yellow, blue and red. Yellow is the child, full of hope, the past. Blue is vulnerable and honest, the present and Red is the mother, the future. With an honest conversation with hooyo and hints of dhaqan (culture) and buranbuur (somali poem) tape archive from my ayeeyo (grandmother) and childhood videos, this film seeks to understand and questions, why did we grow up so fast?