Signature initiatives building skills, confidence, and community.
Gobyahan's programs operate as a connected pipeline for Somali youth, linking learning, production, and audience engagement into a continuous cycle of storytelling.
Applied experience through short films and digital storytelling projects. Workshop participants are integrated into production crews, gaining hands-on experience in real filmmaking environments and continuing to develop their skills through practice.
Bringing Somali stories to audiences locally and globally through community screenings, cultural institutions, film festivals, and digital platforms — including the Hargeisa Cultural Center and the national film festival Fankeenna.
Hargeisa, Somaliland
In 2024, we opened our doors for the first time.
We put out a call for young Somalis who wanted to tell stories through film. Within days, more than 80 people applied for 20 spots. Nearly 80 percent were under 25. More than 35 percent were young women.
We knew then that the hunger was real.
Over four weeks at the Hargeisa Cultural Center, participants learned storytelling, scriptwriting, filmmaking, and production. They pitched ideas to panels, critiqued each other's scripts, handled cameras for the first time, and built crews. They made three short films. Two were completed and screened to a live audience.
Some participants went on to crew on our founder's MFA thesis film. The pipeline was already working.
The 2024 bootcamp was our proof of concept. It showed us what becomes possible when young Somali storytellers are given the tools, the space, and the belief that their stories matter.
We are just getting started.
We partner with schools, community centers, and organizations to bring Gobyahan's programs to new places.
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