Khadar Ayderus Ahmed (born 10 January 1981), is a Finnish-Somali director and writer. He is best known for directing the feature film The Gravedigger's Wife (2021).
Early life and education Khadar Ayderus Ahmed was born on 10 January 1981 in Mogadishu, Somalia. At the age of 16, he moved to Finland as a refugee with his family.
Career In 2008, he wrote the script the award-winning short film Citizens, directed by Juho Kuosmanen, for which he also served as second assistant director.
In 2014, he directed his first short Me ei vietetä joulua, which received critical acclaim. He later directed two more shorts: Yövaras (2017) and The Killing of Cahceravga (2018).
In 2021, Ahmed directed his first feature film, The Gravedigger's Wife (Guled & Nasra). The film premiered in July 2021 in the Critics' Week section at the 74th Cannes Film Festival.
Awards and nominations The Gravedigger's Wife was nominated for the Critics' Week Grand Prize and Caméra d'Or at Cannes. It received wide critical acclaim and screened in multiple film festivals, including FESPACO where it won the Golden Stallion of Yennenga, the festival's top prize. The film was also nominated for the Grand-Prix Award under the International Competition at the Kyiv International Short Film Festival. He was also nominated for the Amplify Voices Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The film became the first Somali submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
YearAwardCategoryWorkResultRef2021Africa Movie Academy AwardsBest DirectorThe Gravedigger's WifeBest Film in An African LanguageBest First Feature Film by a Director
Filmography Year Film Role Genre Ref. 2008 Citizens Second assistant director, Writer Short film 2014 Me ei vietetä joulua Director, writer Short film 2017 Unexpected Journey Screenwriter, Story Film 2017 Yövaras Director, writer Short film 2019 The Killing of Cahceravga Director, writer Short film 2021 The Gravedigger's Wife Director, writer Film
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