''La Conchiglia'' (1992), or ''The Conch'', is a

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

from Somali writer and director Abdulkadir Ahmed Said.

Plot

A female artist is painting a

seascape A seascape is a photograph, painting, or other work of art which depicts the sea, in other words an example of marine art. The word originated as a formation from landscape, which was first used of images of land in art. By a similar devel ...

on a deserted beach when she discovers a beautiful

conch Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends). In North Am ...

. Curious, she puts her ear to it and listens to the echoes and sounds of the ocean waves. However, she also hears the voice of a little girl, Sophie, who recounts her short and troubled life in her small town, which once stood on a lush shore but has since been destroyed by an

ecological catastrophe An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is defined as a catastrophic event regarding the natural environment that is due to human activity.Jared M. Diamond, '' Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed'', 2005 This point disti ...

. One night, a boat discharged illegal

toxic waste Toxic waste is any unwanted material in all forms that can cause harm (e.g. by being inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the skin). Mostly generated by industry, consumer products like televisions, computers, and phones contain toxic chemi ...

that poisoned the fish and local fisherman, eventually contaminating all the vegetation on the coast and the region's inhabitants. Sophie's story is recounted twelve months after the ecological disaster first struck that strip of land, forever ruining the habitat and claiming many lives, including that of the child herself. The film's last sequence nevertheless leaves a glimmer of hope: a group of children are playing near the sea, and a little girl breaks away from the pack to invite the female protagonist to join their game.Association, p.407Xodo, p.31

Other

''La Conchiglia'' was shot on

35 mm film 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film 35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on f ...

. The original version is titled ''Aleel'' and is in Somali, with

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

subtitles. The movie was filmed in and features the local residents of

Gondershe Gondershe, also known as Gandershe or El Torre, is an ancient landmark on the Somali Sea, as well as a town, in the Lower Shabelle region of Southwest State of Somalia. It is noted for its various historical structures. Overview Gendershe (als ...

, a small town on the coast of southern

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

References

Sources

* * 1992 short films 1992 films Somalian short films Somali-language films 1990s Italian-language films Italian short films Somalian drama films Italian drama films {{short-film-stub