“It was a wild time. The hair! The clothes! I really wanted to go back to when boy bands, Tamagotchis and popper pants were all the rage. And Aqua, the best 90s pop band in the world, (behind) ‘Barbie Girl’!” says the director, who used to be “obsessed” with singer Lene Nystrøm.

“I tried cutting my own bangs and dyeing my hair with food coloring to rock her hairstyle. Of course, it didn’t work and the next few months were agony. I was scolded for wasting food coloring that my mother needed to make Somali dessert halwa.”

In Mohamud’s partly autobiographical “down-to-earth comedy about loneliness, youth and overcoming your fears” – currently in development and set for shooting in 2025 – it will be Halima’s turn to experience such “heartwarming and humorous” misadventures.