# Khadar Ayderus Ahmed (Khadar Cayderuus Axmed)

> Khadar Ayderus Ahmed (born 1981): Finnish-Somali director of The Gravedigger's Wife, FESPACO winner and Somalia's first Oscar entry.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/people/khadar-ayderus-ahmed/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Who is he?

Khadar Ayderus Ahmed is a Finnish-Somali director and writer ([Wikipedia, Khadar Ayderus Ahmed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadar_Ayderus_Ahmed)). He is best known for the feature film *[The Gravedigger's Wife](/en/society/somali-cinema/)* (2021) (same source).

## Early life

He was born in Mogadishu on 10 January 1981 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadar_Ayderus_Ahmed)). At 16 he moved to Finland with his family as a refugee (same source). See [Somalis in Finland](/en/diaspora/finland/).

## Short films

In 2008 he wrote the script for the award-winning short *Citizens*, directed by Juho Kuosmanen, and was its second assistant director ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadar_Ayderus_Ahmed)). He directed his first short, *Me ei vietetä joulua*, in 2014 (same source). He then made *Yövaras* (2017) and *The Killing of Cahceravga* (2018) (same source).

## The Gravedigger's Wife

His first feature, *The Gravedigger's Wife* (*Guled & Nasra*), premiered in July 2021 in the Critics' Week section of the 74th Cannes Film Festival ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadar_Ayderus_Ahmed)). It was nominated for the Critics' Week Grand Prize and the Caméra d'Or (same source). At FESPACO it won the Golden Stallion of Yennenga, the festival's top prize (same source). It was the first Somali submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (same source). [Yasmin Warsame](/en/people/yasmin-warsame/) had her first acting role in it ([Wikipedia, Yasmin Warsame](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasmin_Warsame)).

## In short

A Mogadishu-born director in Finland whose The Gravedigger's Wife won FESPACO's top prize and was Somalia's first Oscar entry.

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