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Somali director Ahmed Khadar awarded a Gold Standard

2021-10-24T09:47:24.114Z


CINEMA - The winners of the 28th edition of Fespaco distinguished the filmmaker for La femme du gravedigger, which he presented in Cannes last July.


It would be

"for any African filmmaker, the most beautiful prize that one can have",

according to the president of the jury Abderrahmane Sissako: the Somali director Ahmed Khadar won Saturday the Gold Standard of Yennenga of the 27th Pan-African Film Festival and of Ouagadougou television (Fespaco) for his first feature film

La femme du gravedigger

.

The 40-year-old director, also of Finnish nationality and whose film is shot in Djibouti in the original Somali version, did not take part in the closing ceremony of the festival in the Burkinabè capital.

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Presented in July at the Cannes film festival as part of the International Critics' Week,

La femme du gravedigger

was well received. The film deals with the love story of a couple living with their sons in a poor district of Djibouti. When Nasra, the wife - played by Somali-born Canadian model Yasmin Warsame - suffers from severe kidney disease and must undergo emergency surgery, the family's balance is threatened and her gravedigger husband Guled must find money to pay for the expensive operation. In addition to the supreme award,

La femme du gravedigger

also won the prize for best music at the 27th edition of Fespaco.

Born in Mogadishu, Ahmed Khadar, also a writer, immigrated to Finland at the age of 16 with his family and refugee status.

He directed his first short film,

Me ei vietetä joulua

, in 2014, then two more in 2017,

Yövaras

, and 2018,

The Killing of Cahceravg

a.

A successful festival despite the crises

Glad to have succeeded during the festival, in projecting

"500 works for the benefit of 150,000 festival-goers"

from 64 countries,

"despite the adversity"

linked to insecurity and Covid-19, the general delegate of Fespaco Moussa Alex Sawadogo, made an appointment from February 25 to March 4, 2023 in Ouagadougou for the 28th edition of the festival.

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The Silver Stallion rewarded

Freda

, by Haitian Gessica Geneus and the Bronze Stallion goes to

A story of love and desire

by Tunisian Leyla Bouzid. The Best Actress Award went to the Briton of Sierra Leonean origin Zainab Jah for her role in

Farewell Amor

by Ekwa Msangi (Tanzania), while in the men's category Alassane Sy distinguished herself for her role in

Baamum Nafi

from Senegalese Mamadou Dia. With his film

Serbi

(

White fabrics

) which deals with the dignity of women in a patriarchal society, Senegalese Moly Kane won the golden foal in the short film fiction section.

Amani

of Rwandan Alliah Fafin and

Zalissa

of Burkinabè Carine Bado were respectively awarded the silver foal and the bronze foal.

The trophies were presented to the Ouaga 2000 Sports Palace by the Burkinabé presidents Roch Marc Christian Kaboré and Senegalese Macky Sall, whose country was the guest of honor at the 27th edition of Fespaco.

A traveling “mini Fespaco” is to take place in the north of Burkina Faso, the region most affected by the jihadist attacks which hit this country and which, in six years, have left around 2,000 dead and 1.4 million displaced.

Source: lefigaro

All life articles on 2021-10-24

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