Two child actors from Somalia are headed to the Oscars on Sunday for their nominated short film Asad after filmmakers and others including U.S. and South African government officials rallied to arrange passports, visas, transportation and lodging. Brothers Harun Mohamed (14) and Ali Mohamed (12) were flying today from Cape Town join filmmakers Brian Buckley and Mino Jarjoura for the Oscars. Asad has won popular acclaim along the film festival circuit since April when it premiered at Tribeca Film Festival where it won Best Short Film. Written and directed by Buckley, the film centers on a war-torn fishing village in Somalia and follows a 12-year-old boy who must decide between the pirate life or becoming an honest fisherman. Asad was inspired by a United Nations short documentary, No Autographs. Thanks to filmmakers Buckley and Jarjoura of the U.S. and South Africa’s Rafiq Samsodien, the boys who had never attended school have received private tuition and enrolled in a home school system in South Africa. READ MORE »