| The Gravedigger's Wife | |
| Director: | Khadar Ayderus Ahmed |
| Producer: | Misha Jaari Mark Lwoff Risto Nikkilä Thanassis Karathanos Martin Hampel Stéphane Parthenay Robin Boespflug-Vonie |
| Starring: | Omar Abdi Yasmin Warsame |
| Music: | Andre Matthias |
| Cinematography: | Arttu Peltomaa |
| Editing: | Sebastian Thümler |
| Studio: | Bufo Twenty Twenty Vision Pyramide Productions |
| Distributor: | Orange Studio |
| Runtime: | 83 minutes |
| Country: | France Somalia Germany Finland |
| Language: | Somali |
The Gravedigger's Wife is a drama film, directed by Khadar Ayderus Ahmed and released in 2021.[1] The film is a coproduction of companies from France, Somalia, Germany and Finland.[2]
Ahmed's feature debut, the film was inspired by a death in his own family approximately a decade earlier.[3] It was shot in 2019, although release was delayed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its disruptions of film distribution in 2020.[3]
The film premiered in the Critics' Week program at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.[1] It was subsequently screened at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was one of the winners of the Amplify Voices Award.[4] It was selected as the Somali entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, the first time that Somalia had submitted a film.[5]
Guled (Omar Abdi), a gravedigger in Djibouti, is struggling to raise money to pay for surgery when his wife Nasra (Yasmin Warsame) becomes gravely ill with kidney disease.
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Africa Movie Academy Awards | Best Film | The Gravedigger’s Wife | [6] | |
| Best Director | Khadar Ahmed | ||||
| Best Actor in a Leading Role | Omar Abdi | ||||
| Achievement in Makeup | The Gravedigger’s Wife | ||||
| Achievement in Cinematography | |||||
| Achievement in Production Design | |||||
| Best Soundtrack | |||||
| Best Sound | |||||
| Best First Feature Film by a Director | The Gravedigger’s Wife/Khadar Ahmed |