page_title: Cinema of Somalia
section_title: 1910s-1950s
hierarchical_section_title: Cinema of Somalia / History / 1910s-1950s
caption_attribution_description: English: Old Postcard of Italian Somalia, dated 1937, showing the Cinema Italia in Mogadiscio, near the catholic Cathedral. The postcard was taken from my grandfather album. I have done the digital photo of the postcard, cut it and added data with my software.
context_page_description: The cinema of Somalia refers to the film industry in Somalia. The earliest forms of public film display in the country were Italian newsreels of key events during the colonial period. In 1937 the film Sentinels of Bronze was produced in Ogaden Somalia, with nearly all Somali actors. Growing out of the Somali people's rich storytelling tradition, the first few feature-length Somali films and cinematic festivals emerged in the early 1960s, immediately after independence. Following the creation of the Somali Film Agency regulatory body in 1975, the local film scene began to expand rapidly. In the 1970s and early 1980s, popular musicals known as riwaayado were the main driving force behind the Somali movie industry. Epic and period films as well as international co-productions followed suit, facilitated by the proliferation of video technology and national television networks. In the 1990s and 2000s, a new wave of more entertainment-oriented movies emerged. Referred to as Somaliwood, this upstart, youth-based cinematic movement has energized the Somali film industry and in the process introduced innovative storylines, marketing strategies and production techniques.
context_section_description: Storytelling is an ancient custom in Somali culture. Love of cinema in Somalia is but a modern, visual incarnation and continuation of this well-established oral tradition.
  The earliest forms of public film display in Somalia were Italian newsreels of key events during the colonial period in Italian Somaliland. Examples of such works include Somalia: Gheledi (1913), Somalia italiana (1913), Somalia: Le bellezze del fiume Nebi (1913), Sotto la Croce del Sud - Somalia Italiana (1926), Visioni della Somalia italiana (1929) and Viaggio di S.M. il Re in Somalia (novembre-dicembre 1934) (1934).
  In the 1930s and 1940s, early Somali actors and film technicians co-operated with Italian crews to domestically produce Fascist films. Among the latter productions were Dub'aad and Sentinels of Bronze. The movie Sentinels of Bronze (Sentinelle di bronzo) was awarded in the Festival di Venezia of 1937 as the "Best Italian colonial Film", winning an Italian Cup.
  In the late 1950s there was some collaboration between Rome's Cinecitta and the first Somali directors. As a consequence, in 1963 Hajji Cagakombe's Miyi Iyo Magaalo ("The Countryside and the City" or "Town & Village"), a Somali-Italian co-production, was the country's first full-length feature film.
caption: The Cinema Italia in 1937, the first movie theater in Mogadishu and Somalia.
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