06/28/22: Ahmed Samir was awarded the Sembene Ousmane Award at this year's Zanzibar International Film Festival for BIG DAY. Congratulations!
05/28/22: THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE won the Audience Award at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival. Congratulations!
05/06/22: I'm very happy to announce that THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE (GULED & NASRA) has received the Jussi Award for Best Original Score at the prestigious Finnish National Film Awards (Jussi Awards)! Khadar's wonderful film also won for Best Costume Design. Thank you so much and congratulations to all!
03/23/22: The soundtrack CD to FAREWELL GULSARY can now be pre-ordered at Kronos Records. A download version is available at Bandcamp.
03/11/22: Congratulations to Khadar Ayderus Ahmed: THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE just won both the FIPRESCI Award and the Jury Award for Best Film at the Luxor African Film Festival!

  

03/04/22: THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE (GULED & NASRA) has received 9 Finnish National Film Awards Nominations (Jussi Awards):
- Best Film
- Best Director
- Best Actor
- Best Actress
- Best Screenplay
- Best Original Score
- Best Production Design
- Best Costume Design
- Best Make-up Design
The awards ceremony will be held on May 6th. Congratulations to all the nominees!
12/27/21: Heike Tauch's two-part radio play FAREWELL GULSARY is now available for streaming and download:
Farewell Gulsary, Part 1 (German)
Farewell Gulsary, Part 2 (German)
The soundtrack album is available via Bandcamp.
12/18/21: Heike Tauch's two-part radio play FAREWELL GULSARY, based on the novel by Chingiz Aitmatov, is finished and will premiere on MDR Kultur radio on Christmas:
Part 1: December 25th, 6 p.m.
Part 2: December 26th, 6 p.m.
An Interview with the director about the production has been published here (in German).
11/29/21: THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE has just won the awards for Best Film, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Production Design, Best Make-Up and the Ousmane Sembene Award for Best Film in an African Language at the prestigious Africa Movie Academy Awards. Congratulations to all!
11/23/21: THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE has won the Audience Award at the Norwegian Films from the South!
11/07/21: More awards for THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE: Omar Abdi won for Best Actor at the Carthage Film Festival and the film was awarded both the NDR Film Prize and the INTERFILM Church Prize at the Nordic Film Days. Congratulations to all!
11/04/21: Plaza Mayor will release the soundtrack to THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE digitally on 12 November. A CD from Kronos Records is planned for next year.
10/30/21: Khadar Ayderus Ahmed's THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE has received 10 (!) nominations at the Africa Movie Academy Awards:
- Best Film
- Best Director
- Best First Feature Film by a Director
- Best Actor in a Leading Role
- Achievement in Cinematography
- Achievement in Production Design
- Achievement in Sound
- Achievement in Soundtrack
- Achievement in Make-Up
- Best Film in an African Language
The awards ceremony will be held on 28 November in Ikeja. Our fingers are firmly crossed for everyone!
10/24/21: It is an immense honour to announce that Khadar Ayderus Ahmed's THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE has won both the award for Best Film and for Best Music at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival FESPACO. Congratulations and many thanks to all involved!
10/23/21: Khadar Ayderus Ahmed's THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE just won the Critics Award at the FESPACO film festival. Congratulations!
10/19/21: THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE was awarded a Special Mention prize at the Festival du Film Arabe de Fameck / Val de Fensch. Congratulations!
10/06/21: THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE (d: Khadar Ayderus Ahmed) has been chosen as Somalia's first official submission at the Oscars. The film had its premiere at this year's Semaine de la Critique in Cannes and will next be screened at the BFI London Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival the Valladolid International Film Festival a.o.
09/21/21: Khadar Ayderus Ahmed's THE GRAVEDIGGER'S WIFE just won the Amplify Voices Award at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Congratulations!
08/04/21: GAZA MON AMOUR has won the Critic's Choice Award at the Festival International de Films de Fribourg and the Prix du Regard Citoyen at the Festival International du Film de Mons. Congratulations!
07/13/21: Congratulations to Tarzan and Arab Nasser and Hiam Abbas on this year's Arab Critics Awards for Best Film and Best Actress for GAZA MON AMOUR!