Easy Lessons

17-year-old Kafia fled Somalia to escape a forced marriage. She now lives as a free, western teenage student in Budapest, without her headscarf. Yet despite the newly acquired freedom, Kafia’s past and former identity keep creeping up on her.

With the help of her mother, Kafia fled her home country Somalia at the age of fifteen, when her father wanted to marry her off. She tries to build a new life as a student in Budapest and leave her Muslim past behind her, removing her veil in order to become a model. She even converts to Christianity to please her new boyfriend.

Her beloved mother is unaware of all this, however. As Kafia tries to get used to the new norms and values of western society, she is deeply worried about her mother’s reaction if she finds out that Kafia no longer lives according to the Islamic precepts. Beautiful portrait of the inner struggle of a teenager who tries hard to adapt to her new living environment and at the same time feels guilty towards her mother.