The Grave Diggers Wife is opening at Showroom Cinema on the 25th October with an exclusive Q & A from Finnish-Somali director and writer, Khadar Ayderus Ahmed. The not-to-be-missed Q & A event will be hosted by Councillor Kaltum Osman Rivers, a lifelong activist and the first elected African female councillor in Yorkshire. Kaltum joins us to host alongside Maleiki Haybe, councillor for Broomhill and Sharrow vale with a strong background of working in community groups and youth organisations.

The Gravedigger’s Wife centres on a universal love story that questions just how far we will go for the ones we love. Set in Djibouti, main character Guled (Omar Abdi) is a gravedigger by profession who chases ambulances with a shovel hoping for the worst to make his ends meet. Guled and his wife Nasra (Yasmin Warsame) are a charming couple who, despite their difficulties, find pleasure in gate-crashing wedding receptions and living life to their fullest with their son Mahad (Kadar Abdoul-Aziz Ibrahim). When a serious kidney illness strikes Nasra their inspiring and wholesome family unit is threatened with a $5000 hospital bill for Nasra’s emergency operation. Guled, whose life is enriched by Nasra’s passion, fights for his family through the sand and mud with inspiring tenacity, taking on extra work where he can find it and single-handedly traveling across country to find what is rightfully his. These raw, real and harsh experiences are juxtaposed masterfully by Khadar Ayderus Ahmed with scenes of the oppressive clinical systems which hold the family captive.

The film screening and Q & A, which starts at 6pm on the 25th October, is a unique opportunity for the Somali community to come together and celebrate the first fully Somali language film release in the UK and congratulate Khadar Ayderus Ahmed on his first feature debut deeply rooted in Somali culture.

Alongside the Q & A on the 25th Showroom Cinema will be hosting a roundtable event with Writer/director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed for a masterclass on filmmaking in Partnership with ISRAAC, Diaspora MultiMedia Hub and BFI Youth Film Academy.

The films distribution comes from Aya Films, a UK company that focuses on championing African and Black films who are collaborating on the release with Kayd Somali Arts and Culture, a London-based arts organisation, to position the film for Somali communities across the UK, with Q&As and complementary events.