Woman Land
Description
Two young Somali sisters in Minneapolis have to balance rebellion with their reputations when their secret matchmaking business attracts a client a little too close to home.
In Southern Minneapolis, two Somali-American sisters, Hafsa and Sumaya, run a secret matchmaking service, ‘Woman Land’, where they balance their ambitions alongside cultural expectations. Hafsa, shy and introspective, spearheads the business, while her elder sister Sumaya, practical and jaded, dreams of leaving town and exploring the world after graduating college.
Their service gains traction in the community, exciting some but also drawing online trolls and judgment from their elders. As they navigate it all, Hafsa faces a personal crisis when her crush becomes the subject of a matchmaking request. Meanwhile, Sumaya struggles with her role in the business and her desire for independence.
Set against the backdrop of a Minneapolis winter, the film explores topics around the expectations around tradition, the tug-of-war between parental pressure and that of society amongst young women finding their own voice in the modern digital age.
Director bio:Yasmin Yassin is a Somali director and photographer based in Minnesota. Her artistic practice explores subcultures and how people come together to form networks of connection. With a background in science, Yasmin brings her research experience along with her to build relationships and understand context before creating her art. Her goal is to tell stories as authentically as possible to their essence, with integrity towards those that invite her into their lives, in the tradition of her East African oral-storytelling heritage. Yasmin recreates feelings in her imagery using the dynamic effects of light and color, while considering the lived experiences of those captured in relation to shared spaces and environments.
‘Dhaanto’, a short doc and photo project about a local Somali dance troupe and their coach, was her directorial debut and screened at the Minneapolis-St.Paul International Film Festival / MSPIFF, at the Millenium Film Workshop in New York City, and also internationally in Hargeysa and Toronto along with local community screenings across the Twin Cities. ‘Dhaanto’ was invited by Blake School in Minneapolis to screen as part of their staff professional development day, and the photo project exhibited as part of the Fotofocus Biennial in Cincinnati.The short documentary was funded in part by Saint Paul Neighborhood Networks’s Fresh Vantage post-production grant.
Select clients she has worked with include: Apple, New Yorker, Verizon, the New York Times, National Geographic, Stearns Bank and the Walker Art Center. She has also directed pieces for Nike, WorldRemit, and Blue Cross Blue Shield MN. Yasmin has had her work featured by Vogue, Office Magazine, Lensculture and The Guardian.