The keyboardist for a wedding band is dragged from a rehearsal to the local court, where the children of his elderly wife demand he divorce her or face criminal charges for defrauding her of her property. Mo Harawe’s Somali short drama Whispers of a Burning Scent presents an intriguing scenario, and one that is shot with a clean documentary-like style. The narrative ellipsis, on the other hand, may prove frustrating to some viewers.

Harawe’s film received funding from the Displacement Film Fund, an initiative of International Film Festival Rotterdam and the UNHCR to provide supporting for geographically displaced and refugee filmmakers around the world. It is a valuable fund to have out there, based on this well-crafted and effective drama. Anything that provides an outlet and exposure for under-seen filmmakers is a good thing.

The film begins in striking fashion with a rehearsal performance by the wedding band. It is abruptly cut short when police officers come to arrest keyboardist Hanfade, played by Omar Abdi. Hauled in front of a court, he finds himself facing charges of fraud. Hanfade claims to love Xaliimo, a 75-year-old woman whom he married without her children’s knowledge. While married to her, he arranged to sell off her property. Now those children will have him prosecuted for fraud if he does not immediately agree to divorce Xaliimo.

It is a rather uncomfortable set-up for a story, and I think most viewers’ immediate instinct will be to assume the charges of fraud are true. In subsequent scenes, however, we witness Hanfade’s reaction to this ultimatum. We see him visit his sleeping wife in her home. It is clear from his behaviour that there is a genuine affection there for her. Does that exonerate him? Of course not, and Harawe is very clear in not providing the audience with a direct answer. There is a world of emotional depth in the film’s long silences.

Omar Adbi gives a riveting, well-considered performance as Hanfade. It excels in those regular periods of silence. When he speaks it is with an awkward under-confidence that makes it difficult to fully settle on his motives. It is no surprise to discover Adbi is an African Academy Award-winner. I am keen to track down more of his performances.

Cinéma vérité style photography and sound keeps the film grounded and realistic. Like the best short film dramas – or at least my favourite style of them – a lot of extraneous context and detail is excluded from the story. The film does not provide a neat conclusion because it honestly does not need one; in that respect it reminds me of another recent short “Pile On”, which I reviewed recently. It is a shame these excellent half-hour films struggle so badly to find an audience outside of international festivals: once seen, viewers are unlikely to ever see them again.

Whispers of a Burning Scent is screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Click here for more information.