• Comment: More information on the reception of the film is needed. Reconrabbit 18:17, 13 September 2024 (UTC)

Bufis (title translated as "Daydreamers")^[1] is a 2023 Kenyan-Somali criminal drama film inspired by true life events, directed by Vincenzo Cavallo and Mahad Ahmed.^[2]It won the VFF Talent Highlight Award at The 69th annual Berlin International Film Festival that took place from 7 to 17 February 2019.^[3] It was written by Vincenzo Cavallo (under the artistic name Dr. Faras) and produced by Cultural Video Production and unafilm, starring Ilmi Ahmed, Zeitun Salat and Ali Buul.^[4]

Bufis^[5] is based on true events happening at the end of the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s, covering a scam that involved thousands of Somalis who managed to obtain a green card visa for the USA.^[6] The title of the film refers to people who are constantly dreaming of going abroad, in that they are told to have "Bufis'' or to be “Bufis” (to be daydreamers).^[7] When the American embassy opens the green card lottery visa, the mysterious broker Assad, a sort of contemporary Robin Hood, uses this opportunity to spin hundreds of whimsical tales about imaginary families running away from the war and submits them; many of these stories are inspired by his own personal life. ^[8]Through the elaborate scheme he creates fake families and trains them in order to scam the system and secure for them a better life overseas. Despite his questionable modus operandi, he successfully relocates hundreds of Somalis to the US. When one of his stories is selected for the next step, Kamal, a repatriated Somali-American, helps him to find the right characters for the embassy interviews, he acts as a casting director. Their plans take an unexpected turn when their con is about to be discovered and they are forced to choose between their own self-interests and the ones of the people they want to protect.^[9]

Bufis premiered in Poland on 6 October 2023 at the 39th edition of the Warsaw Film Festival (WIFF)^[10], where it was nominated for the Free Spirit Award.^[11] In February 2024, Bufis was released on Netflix with the name Daydreamers^[1] and in April premiered in North America at the 43rd edition of the Minneapolis Saint Paul International Film Festival,^[12] followed by the 31st edition of the New York African^[13] Film in May where Bufis was screened as a closing film in Harlem at the African Center.^[14]In June it premiered at The 9th Edition Of The African Film Festival (TAFF) in Dallas Texas. ^[15]On August 15th, it was featured in the 18th edition of the Africa Cinema Festival in Lausanne Switzerland^[16]. It was also screened at The annual film festival ‘AFRIKAMERA^[17] – Latest Cinema from Africa’ in November.^[18]

The film is distributed by Rushlake Media^[19] and premiered in Poland on October 2023. In November the film was released in Kenyan theatres with a sold-out premiere organized at the Westgate Cinema.^[20] The closing screening was organized at the independent cinema Unseen in Nairobi, where the film sold out all the shows.^[21]

Vincenzo Cavallo and Mahad Ahmed had worked together previously; before Bufis they worked on WAZI?FM, a feature film that won the Golden Dhow^[22] at ZIFF in 2015, and Almost Somali,^[23] a documentary co-produced with ARTE in 2022. Cavallo arrived in Nairobi to work for the UN in 2007^[24] while Mahad ended up in Kenya because of the civil war. The two met on the set of WAZI?FM and since then never stopped co-creating.^[25]

Reactions to the film were divided; some Somalis felt it painted them in a bad light and brought shame to their community^[26], others were afraid of the consequences of the exposé^[27] and there were those who were unaware of the fraud found it eyeopening.^[28]. Following its premiere in the US, some viewers identified with the desire to be in a state of Bufis, while others were more drawn to criminal aspects of the film and the hardship that comes with being a refugee^[29] seeking freedom through illegal immigration.^[30]