Musa Syeed, 2016

Adan is down on his luck. His mother has kicked him out for stealing her jewelry, he's pissed off his friends, and, after an accident that costs him his job, he has now become responsible for a dog he doesn't want. Set in Minneapolis's large Somali immigrant community, A Stray tells a story that is as much mood as plot, offering us a complicated protagonist attempting to understand his faith and himself. Barkhad Abdirahman brings a restless frustration and quiet sweetness to the role of Adan, who wrestles with his ambivalent relationship to the dog his religion forbids him to touch yet whose plight bears a striking resemblance to his own.

82 min.