‘The Gravedigger’s Wife’ storyline is world’s best, says Omar Abdi, Somalian actor

Omar Abdi, the Somalian actor, was one of the biggest winners at the 17th edition of Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), snagging the ‘Best Actor in a Leading Role’ award for his role in ‘The Gravedigger’s Wife‘.

At the award ceremony, which was held at Marriott Hotel in Lagos, ‘The Gravedigger’s Wife’ secured five awards, including ‘Best Film in an African Language’, ‘Achievement in Make-Up’, ‘Achievement in Production Design’ and ‘AMAA 2021 Best Film’.

Speaking with TheCable Lifestyle at the award ceremony, Abdi said the storyline of the feature film is the “best in the world”.

He also said Africa has more original, quality, and intriguing stories to tell the rest of the world, adding that “we just need to focus and do our things.”

Abdi added that the 83-minute film, co-produced by companies from France, Somalia, Germany, and Finland, has taken him and the rest of the crew around the globe.

“Africa has more of these stories, so we need to focus and do our things,” he said.

“The storyline for ‘The Gravedigger’s Wife’ is the best we have in the world. We have travelled from Somalia, to Finland, to Germany and now we are here in Nigeria. We have travelled all around the world just because of the film.”

The movie, written by Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, was said to have been based on a true-life experience of the writer himself.

A death in Ahmed’s family, which happened about a decade earlier, raised his consciousness to successfully write the emotionally contagious story for the screen.

It was first shot in 2019, but its release was delayed until 2021 because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on film distribution in 2020.