'For the girls': New film tells a coming-of-age story of Somali American women in Minneapolis
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
In the short film “Woman Land,” two sisters walk down Lake Street in Minneapolis, chatting about love interests and their secret matchmaking business for the Somali community.
“I really think of Lake Street as kind of like the heartbeat of the city,” filmmaker Yasmin Yassin says. “Depending on where you go, it has different significance, based on the landmarks that are there.”
Yassin wanted the characters to journey from Bryant Lake Bowl, an iconic Minneapolis watering hole, to Karmel Mall, a hub for Somali and Somali American culture in the U.S. Yasmin used these two locations for juxtaposition, to show the proximity of a place beloved by many Minneapolitans and a place beloved by the Somali community.
“I really wanted to just show a day in the life of two young Somali sisters in the city, and make it feel really relatable,” Yassin says.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
“Woman Land,” made by an entirely local crew, is Yassin’s first narrative film, following projects such as “Dhaanto,” her 2023 documentary short about the traditional Somali dance of the same name.
In “Woman Land,” sisters Hafsa and Sumaya, who are in their late teens and early twenties, navigate the unexpected success of their social media matchmaking business for the Somali community, while also navigating new and old traditions.
Both films are about performance, Yassin says, but “Woman Land’ is “more about behavioral performance between women and in the culture, and the idea of traditional femininity, and what it means to have that sort of all come together within changing landscapes of digitization, cell phones, social media.”
The film grew out of the digital zine of the same name, which uses essays, notes and letters to explore “Somali, African and Muslim girlhood.”
“‘Woman Land’ is truly about two Somali girls that are in this in-between stage — they're first generation — trying to create culture and also innovate it at the same time,” says Filsan Said, a Minneapolis playwright who is a producer on the film. “I know these girls. I've seen them around. I think that's something that really drew me in.”
Yassin has wanted to make “Woman Land” for years. While Yassin has lived in Minneapolis for a decade, she grew up in Vancouver, Canada, and her teens were spent watching indie coming-of-age movies like “Garden State” and “500 Days of Summer.”
She wanted to make a coming-of-age story, too, but “I wanted to see us in it.”
It became a “love letter” to Somali American sisterhood.
“It's really for the girls. It was always for the girls,” says Yassin, who grew up with many sisters.
“I grew up in a household that was very matriarchal, and so I wanted to kind of reflect that a little bit,” Yassin adds. “I really wanted to play on that idea of the strength and joy, but also, the funny power of the women in our culture.”
Local actor Hodan Hassan, who plays the sister Hafsa, says she was drawn to the project because it tells a different story about the Somali American experience than what is commonly portrayed — the hardship of fleeing the Somali Civil War in the 1980s and 1990s.
“It's great to tell those stories as well,” Hassan says, but “those aren't the only stories that we have to share. We are allowed to also talk about love and family and comedy and just all these other things.”
“Woman Land” will have its world premiere March 8 at the Tampere Film Festival in Finland. The film was set to premiere in Minneapolis earlier this year, but because of the ICE operation in Minnesota, Yassin says it was postponed for the safety of the Somali community. Yassin says it will debut in Minneapolis this spring.
“We were prioritizing people's comfort level, safety, and also just making sure that when we gather together as a community, that people are gathering when they feel excited to do so,” Yassin says.
Editor's note: "Woman Land" has been selected to be part of the 45th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival at The Main Cinema. MSPIFF runs from April 8-19.
