The Gravedigger’s Wife

Synopsis: Guled and Nasra are a loving couple, living in the outskirts of Djibouti city with their teenage son, Mahad. However, they are facing difficult times: Nasra urgently needs an expensive surgery to treat her chronic kidney disease. Guled is already working hard as a gravedigger to make ends meet: how can they find the money to save Nasra and keep the family together?

Director’s Biography: Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, is a Finnish-Somali director and writer. At the age of 16, he moved to Finland as a refugee with his family. In 2008, he wrote the script of the short film Citizens where he also worked as the second assistant director. Then in 2014, he directed the first short Me ei vietetä joulua which received critics’ acclaim. He later directed two more short films Yövaras (2017) and The Killing of Cahceravga (2018).  He is best known for directing the feature film The Gravedigger's Wife, which premiered in July 2021 at the Cannes Film Festival in the Semaine internationale de la critique, and later the film became the first Academy Award submission from Somalia.