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Bufis (Somali: buufis) is a 2023 Kenyan-Somali criminal drama film directed by Vincenzo Cavallo and Mahad Ahmed. [1]It was written by Dr. Faras (artistic name of Vincenzo Cavallo) and produced by Cultural Video Production and unafilm, starring Ilmi Ahmed, Zeitun Salat and Ali Buul.[2]
Bufis is based on true events happening at the end of the 90s beginning of 2000, a scam that involved thousands of Somalis who managed to obtain a green card visa for the USA.[3] The title of the film refers to people who are constantly dreaming of going abroad, they are told to have "Bufis'' or to be “Bufis” in a few words to be daydreamers. [4] When the American embassy opens the green card lottery visa, the mysterious broker Assad, a sort of contemporary Robin Hood, uses this opportunity to put his golden penmanship to work. He spins hundreds of whimsical tales about imaginary families running away from the war and submits them; many of these stories are inspired by his own personal life. Through the elaborate scheme he creates fake families and trains them, as real acting coaches would do in order to scam the system and secure for them a better life overseas. Despite his questionable modus operandi, he successfully relocates hundreds of Somalis to the US. When one of his stories is selected for the next step, Kamal, a repatriated Somali-American, helps him to find the right characters for the embassy interviews, he acts as a casting director. But, their plans soon take an unexpected turn; now their con is about to be discovered and they will have to choose among their own self-interest and the ones of the people they want to protect.[5]
Ilmi Ahmed Abdirahman as Assad
Abdirahman Ali Buul as Kamal
Zeitun Salat Bare as Asho
Gure Sayid Noor as Dahir
Mohamud Fidle as Liban
Shazmin Ali sheikh Abdullahi as Samira
Hodan Mohamed Aden as Fartun
Abdirizak Maalim Ahmed as Fuad
Mariam Ibrahimc Ali as Jamila
Rand Pearson as Mr. Smith
Qassim Mohamed Nuur as Buhran
Nihal Shihab as Fardosa
Mahatha Hassan Barrow as Deqa
Abdirahman Mohamed Noor as Kai
Antony Mwangi as Nguchi
Musa Mohamed as Amir
Bufis premiered in Poland on the 6th of October 2023 at the 39th edition of the Warsaw Film Festival (WIFF) and it was nominated for the Free Spirit Award. [6]In February 2024, Bufis was released on Netflix with the name Daydreamers[7] and in April premiered in North America at the 43rd edition of the Minneapolis Saint Paul International Film Festival[8], followed by the 31st edition of the New York African Film in May during which Bufis was screened as a closing film in Harlem at the African Center. [9]
The film is distributed by Rushlake Media[10] and premiered in Poland on October 2023. In November the film was released in Kenyan theatres with a premiere organized at the famous Westgate Cinema[11] that was sold out and followed by all the Nairobians and Kenyan cinemas including the ones in Kisumu and Mombasa. The closing screening was organized at the independent cinema, Unseen in Nairobi[12], where the film sold out all the shows.
Vincenzo Cavallo and Mahad Ahmed were no strangers to working together, before Bufis they worked on WAZI?FM, a feature film that won the Golden Dhow[13] at ZIFF in 2015 and Almost Somali[14] a documentary co-produced with ARTE in 2022. Cavallo arrived in Nairobi to work for the UN in 2007[15] while Mahad ended up in Kenya because of the civil war. The two met on the set of WAZI?FM[16] and since then never stopped to co-create, now Mahad has gone back to Somalia to work in the film industry while Cavallo still lives between Kenya and Italy.
The controversial film was met with criticism especially from the Somali community. Many felt it shed a negative light, while others feared the consequences of the exposé. [17]After the release in the USA many positive reviews appeared on Letterbox[18] among other websites dedicated to independent cinema. Overall the film has raised interest among the audience for its unique visual style and its absurd surrealism.
