A Story Left Behind

Sheeko Laga Tagay

Resurrecting her memory, the film questions whose stories get told and who gets to tell them.

Having moved to Sheffield from Somalia at 11, Najma feels like many migrants, who straddle two worlds yet feel disconnected from both. She discovers a short storybook in the Sheffield Library written by Halima, a Somali woman who arrived in the UK in 1956. The information she finds creates a limited and fragmented, but deeply sombre, narrative. A Story Left Behind follows Najma as she tries to fill in the gaps in Halima's story, exploring the contradictions of what Halima recorded of her life and what she omitted. Through this process, Najma embarks on a journey of self-discovery. With her film, Asma Kabadeh celebrates Sheffield's vibrant Somali community, while discussing the universal importance of archiving cultural history as an anchor for future generations.