The Martyr

Asia works as a nurse and lives with her two children Omar and Sara in a Swedish city suburb. Sara lives a normal teenage life while Omar has been in trouble with the law. Omar has started hanging out with new friends and spends a lot of time at the mosque. At family dinner one night Omar declares that he will undertake a trip to a Quran School in Turkey. Concerns start growing and Asia suspects that Omar might have been radicalised. When society fails to support the mother, Asia starts making her own plans to save her son and keep her family together. The creative team’s intention was exploring the issue of radicalisation and portraying it from within a family. Showing the affected people behind the headlines and telling their story, without reproducing stereotypes of Muslims. The Martyr holds a story that resonates with people and communities in cities all over Europe, and the world. Ahmed Abdullahi has previously co-directed the documentary I Am Dublin, about the cost and consequence of the Dublin Regulation seen through a Somali teenager’s perspective.