Shared Frames: Youth Film and Cultural Exchange Programme in Somalia is a youth-led film and storytelling system in Mogadishu and Garowe, Somalia, built around a structured, repeatable method for using film as a tool for dialogue, learning, and creative production.
Since the collapse of the national government in 1991, Somalia has had no cinema infrastructure or shared public screening spaces. Film is widely accessed but not structured as a cultural system, and in some communities remains viewed with caution due to religious and moral sensitivities.
The project responds with a three-stage cycle: curated film screenings on themes like identity, migration, and resilience, facilitated reflection connecting these themes to lived experience, and youth-led production of short response films using accessible tools like mobile phones. Running in parallel across two cities, the method allows for comparison, adaptation, and shared learning across different urban contexts.
Implemented by Arlo Art Space with local partners Simad University and Shineemo Banaadir, and international partners Goethe-Institut Nairobi and the Embassy of Sweden, the project builds more than a programme, it builds a transferable methodology. The real outcome is a tested, documented participatory film method that can travel beyond this project, alongside a trained generation of Somali storytellers and a growing body of youth-produced films reflecting their own perspectives.
