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The poignant drama about a gravedigger's
struggles to raise money to pay for his wife's surgery, took
home the 20 million franc CFA ($35,714) prize money and the
golden stallion statue.
The film, which was Somalia's first official entry for the Best
International Feature Film category at the 2021 Academy Awards,
premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in July.
Ahmed, who was not in Ouagadougou to collect his prize, has
previously said the film was inspired by incidents that happened
in his family.
Mauritanian film director Abderrahmane Sissako, who chaired the
jury for the 17 feature films in the competition, told Reuters
that it was a courageous movie from a country which does not
make a lot of films. "So when there is a film such as this one
from there, it should be encouraged."
"It is a beautiful film that tells a story with humanity. It is
a love story also," Sissako said after the ceremony presided
over Presidents Macky Sall of Senegal and Roch Marc Kabore of
Burkina Faso.
The Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou,
known as Fespaco, is the largest biannual meeting of African
cinema which attracts international and African cinema and
television professionals from the continent and the diaspora to
the Burkinabe capital.
This 27th edition was postponed by nearly eight months to Oct.
16-23, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and security
challenges the country is facing.
($1 = 560.0000 CFA francs)
(Reporting by Anne Mimault and Thiam Ndiaga; Writing by Bate
Felix; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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