MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Residents have barred HBO from filming at a Minneapolis high-rise apartment building for what the company describes as a Somali-American family drama series.
Minneapolis Public Housing Authority had provisionally approved the filming of “Mogadishu, Minnesota” outside the Cedar-Riverside area building if residents agreed and would be paid location fees.
But MPR News (https://bit.ly/2e5fBxJ ) reported that the residents voted against the move Wednesday night, citing the potential disruption to their daily lives and concerns that Somali Americans would be portrayed in a negative light. The meeting of residents was organized by the nonprofit Minneapolis Highrise Representative Council.
“And anybody who knows HBO, no one is watching that to talk about a Somali family. They don’t care about that,” said Burhan Mohamud, a student. “They care about what is happening in Minneapolis. They care about all these headlines.”
The show’s writer and director, Somali-Canadian musician K’naan, said in a statement that the show’s objective is to accurately portray Muslim Americans’ lives.
“When national and international discourse is driven by a perceived Islamic threat, ’Mogadishu, Minnesota’ intends to look behind the generalizations and assumptions to reveal the truth about what daily life is like for Muslim Americans across a range of religiosities,” K’naan said in the statement.
Producers of the HBO show said in a statement that they will respect the tenant’s wishes and not film at the Cedar-Riverside area building. However the company will still shoot at about a dozen other locations in Minneapolis.
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Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, https://www.mprnews.org
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