city Ouagadougou: Celebs Rumors

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentCAA has signed Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, the up-and-coming director of “The Gravedigger’s Wife,” Somalia’s first ever official submission for the Oscars international feature film race.“The Gravedigger’s Wife,” Ahmed’s feature debut,” world premiered at Cannes’ Critics’ Week and went on to win the Amplify Voices Award at Toronto. The film also played BFI London, Chicago and Palm Springs, as well as the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco) where it scooped the top prize.The movie recently played in Mogadishu at the National Theatre of Somalia, Ahmed’s native country.

Tunisian Murder Mystery ‘Ashkal’ Triumphs At FESPACOTunisian director Youssef Chebbi’s investigative thriller Ashkal has won the top prize at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO). The festival, which ran from February 25 to March 4, unfolds every two years in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou and is regarded as Africa’s equivalent of Cannes. Chebbi’s murder mystery revolves around a series of killings at a construction site on the outskirts of the Tunisian capital of Tunis. The film world premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and then played a raft of other festivals including Toronto and London. The FESPACO jury head, producer Dora Bouchoucha, praised the film’s pairing of a strong aesthetic with a politically tuned-in storyline. Burkinabe filmmaker Apolline Traore won the Silver Stallion for Sira, about a woman kidnapped by Jihadists, and Kenyan director Angela Wamai took home the Bronze Stallion for Shimoni, about a schoolteacher rebuilding his life in his remote village after a harsh stint in jail.