Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s The Gravedigger’s Wife has been awarded with the prestigious main award, The Golden Stallion, at the Pan-African film festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
The jury was chaired by Mauritanian film director Abderrahmane Sissako. 17 feature films were in the competition, and altogether 1132 films were submitted. Sissako stated that the award, which also included a 30 000 € cash prize, was “for any African filmmaker, the best prize you can have, a source of great pride”.
Fespaco is the continent’s largest biannual festival that celebrates films made in Africa and by Africans, and is largely recognised around the globe.
The poignant drama that opened at the Cannes Critics’ Week earlier this year is also Somalia’s first official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2021 Academy Awards.
