Beautiful new short film on Western Sahara, Battalion to my Beat ('14), will premier in London next July 2 at the Mid-summer Western Sahara Festival. A coming of age story about a spirited Saharawi girl facing a crossroads between becoming a soldier or forever staying a refugee.

Listen to director Eimi Imanishi talking about her film during the Tenth Annual Dallas International Film Festival last April 2016.

Programme

4pm - Welcome
4.15pm - English premiere "Battalion to my Beat" (Eimi Imanishi, 14')
4.30pm - Run the Sahara 2017 launch
5pm - Stave House in the Sahara presentation
6pm - BREAK
6.15pm - English premiere "The Desert of the Desert" (Samir Abujambra, 84')
8pm - Run the Sahara 2017 testimonies
8.30pm - Music and poetry by Sam Berkson and Karim Dellali

​This summer, in collaboration with Stave House music academy, we invite you to a heart-warming and eye-opening evening of film premiers, photography, talks, music & poetry for the Saharawis of Western Sahara. Come and join us in our mid-summer festival to learn more about the situation in Africa's Last Colony and the awareness-raising and educational projects we're currently developing in the Saharawi refugee camps.

Tickets are just a £5 suggested donation to help us cover the expenses of the event. ​

​The Runner
Saeed Taji Forouky
Year: 2013
Country: France

​The story of a champion long-distance runner whose journey transformed him from an athlete into the symbol of a national liberation movement. Salah Ameidan is willing to risk his life, his career, his family and his nationality to run for a country that doesn’t exist: Western Sahara.
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He was forced to join Morocco’s junior athletics team, under threats to his family. By 1999 he was the triple cross-country champion for Morocco, had won 2nd place in the Africa Championships and was two-time Arab World Champion.

During a race in 2003, he pulled out a Sahrawi flag – illegal in Morocco and a symbol of the independence movement – and waved it across the finish line. Knowing he could never return to Morocco safely, he sought political asylum in France and has been there ever since. He was offered citizenship by France and Spain, but refused both, saying he would never run under any flag but that of a liberated Western Sahara.
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​Read an interview with Saeed Taji Forouky about the documentary here.

These are the two filmmakers, and short a teaser from their films on Western Sahara, featuring in Sahara Nights.

Saeed Taji Farouky is a documentary photographer, filmmaker and writer who specialises in documenting issues of human rights and social justice in the Middle East and North Africa. His work has been published by The Observer, The Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, BBC Online and The Economist Group amongst others. He is currently a TED Senior Fellow, was previously named Artist-in-Residence at the Tate Britainand The British Museum, and is Director of the award-winning documentary production company Tourist With A Typewriter.

​The Runner is a film about endurance. It is the story of a champion long-distance runner whose journey transformed him from an athlete into the symbol of a national liberation movement. Salah Ameidan from Western Sahara is willing to risk his life, his career, his family and his nationality to run for a country that doesn’t exist.

Wilaya
Pedro Pérez Rosado
Year: 2012
Country: Spain

A young woman returns to her Saharan roots in Wilaya, a drama that borders on ethnographic documentary territory, with a strong feminist slant. It is the story of two Saharawi sisters, one brought up in the camps and another one in Spain, separated by more than physical barriers. A Spanish production made in association with the Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic – with dialogue in Spanish and Arabic – Wilaya offers insight into a little-publicised world, and derives most of its dramatic pull from the charismatic presence of lead actress Nadhira Mohamed. The soundtrack of Wilaya has been composed and performed by Saharawi singer and percussionist Aziza Brahim, who won the first prize in the FiSahara 2012.
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Read a review in English here.

Sons of the Clouds – The Last Colony
Javier Bardem and Álvaro Longoria
Year: 2012
Country: Spain
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Alvaro Longoria (Che, Comandante), teams up with Academy Award winner Javier Bardem (No country for old men, Biutiful, Vicky Cristina Barcelona) for this compelling documentary that explores the Western Saharan conflict. Sons of The Clouds is a harrowing portrait of the political and human rights issues facing the people of the Western Sahara. This feature length documentary brings awareness to the conflict and strives to encourage leaders to pursue a resolution.

Read an interview with Bardem about the documentary here.