Here we provide a brief introduction to film in the Saharawi context as well as showcase recently released films and projects-in-production that focus on the Western Sahara. These films are being singled out either because they are being made in English or have an English version. Featured here isThe Problem, by Jordi Ferrer and Pablo Vidal, which highlights the human rights situation in Western Sahara. Also featured is The Runner a British project being produced by Tourist with a Typewriter.
We hope soon to showcase examples of films being produced by aspiring Saharawi filmmakers who are making promising attempts.
For a comprehensive library of existing documentary films on various aspects of the situation in Western Sahara, visit our Media Library.
camera obscura projection inside tent by Nilu Izadi
Film and visual arts in Western Sahara
Film and the visual arts in general are a new medium for the Saharawis whose main creative form of expression has culturally been rooted in the oral traditions. Opportunities to develop a film-making culture, until very recently, have been virtually non-existent due to the deprivations of exile in the refugee camps and the oppressive circumstances of life under Morocco’s occupation in Western Sahara, Even during the Spanish colonial era, keen Saharawis would have had no chance to learn the craft, as Franco’s impoverished Spain had no film industry to speak of and TV was strictly state-controlled.
Nevertheless, a few Saharawis did manage to master the use of professional camera equipment during the war years and made an important contribution to documenting key historical moments. Over the years, numerous outsiders have sought to tell the story of the Saharawi plight to the world but it has not been told by the Saharawis themselves.
This situation is likely to change soon as a result of increasing inputs and training being provided by Spanish-led initiatives like FISAHARA. Since 2003, FISAHARA has been staging international film festivals in the camps to develop the population’s exposure and appreciation of film. They recently got funding to build an audiovisual centre to train future Saharawi filmmakers. It was inaugurated during the 7th film festival in May 2010. The seven years of holding the festival and running short audiovisual film workshops each time has already born fruit. Small but slowly growing numbers of young Saharawis are forming cooperatives in the camps to produce films independently and tell their stories with whatever means they can find.
The ambitious plans of the fledgling Saharawi TV station in the camps, launched in 2009, will no doubt benefit from these developments. Despite the limited resources and skilled personnel to run it, TV RASD is determined to develop its own content and programming. Individuals and organizations interested in providing the needed support, training and resources are welcome to help it fulfill its mission.
If you are a filmmaker and want to either a play role in training Saharawis in an aspect of the art of filmmaking, would like to collaborate with Saharawis to produce their stories or want to make a film of your own please email us at info@sandblast-arts.orgto let us know.
El Problema – The Problem is a Spanish documentary, produced by Jordi Ferrer and Pablo Vidal, featuring testimonies and documents gathered over four and a half years in Western Sahara – clandestine images, given the Moroccan authorities’ prohibition of filming in the area. The documentary film highlights how all physical expressions of Saharawi identity are forbidden and even the use of the name Western Sahara or the word referendum is a “problem”, El Problema of the unheard Saharawis.
“In 2004, we [the directors] discovered the refugee camps while we were shooting footage; it was our first experience with this people and we ascertained the precarious situation of the refugees in Tindouf, Algeria, resulting from the 1975 exodus. They told us their story of the Spanish colonial era and their forced escape into the desert as the Moroccan army invaded their country. They also spoke of the situation in the occupied zone, which is basically unknown to the rest of the world. That’s how we started to investigate and to meet people who had succeeded in entering the territory that was concealing its condition from the eyes of journalists. They described the situation within the Moroccan-occupied Sahara like a state of martial law. Cities completely overrun by all kinds of repression forces, police, undercover agents, soldiers, special forces, etc… “
El Problema is the winner of the Amnesty International Prize at the San Sebastian film festival in 2010, Human Rights Human Wrongs Film Festival in Oslo 2010, and the First Prize at FISAHARA 2010 International Sahara Film Festival.
The Runner tells the story of a champion long-distance runner from Africa’s last colony – the Western Sahara – who gave up his career, his family and his citizenship to run for a country that doesn’t exist.
In Autumn 2009, Saharawi gold medalist and human rights activist Salah Amaidane (pictured below) was invited to London by Sandblast to help raise awareness about human rights abuses in Moroccan -occupied Western Sahara and help the charity recruit participants for Running the Sahara 2010. Salah is a political refugee who campaigns for the freedom of his homeland and the right of his people to represent Western Sahara in international sporting events.
Saeed Taji Farouky, a documentary filmmaker, was introduced to Salah by Sandblast, who began filming his visit upon arrival at Stanstead airport. As the director of Tourist with a Typewriter, a documentary production company dedicated to human rights and social justice documentaries, Saeed is keen on telling stories about international “anomalies and those embarrassments that most people would rather not talk about. They are either too much effort (history is complex), or simply too controversial to debate”.
After spending time with Salah, during his two week visit, and filming him in various contexts, Saeed decided that Salah and his life story would make a compelling subject for a documentary. And so was born the idea for his film, “The Runner”. It is now a work in progress and got seed funding from Sandblast.
“We [Tourist with a Typewriter] heard about Salah Ameidan, a man obsessed and with an incredible talent that has brought him international attention. He is a runner. A long-distance runner. Patience, perseverance, stamina: his talent seems like a perfect metaphor for the situation he – and all other Sahrawis – find themselves in. Patience. Perseverance. Stamina.”
Saeed and his crew travelled to the refugee camps in February 2010 to film Salah visiting friends and family, drumming up support for his sports project in the camps, and winning the 5km race in the annual Sahara Marathon. He plans to continue filming Salah’s life in France.
The director emphasizes that “The Runner” is also a film about the challenge of filming underreported issues. “If we decide [that] we don’t want to make a “political” film: are we misrepresenting the situation? Is a man like Salah an adequate representation of the Western Sahara? Is he a symbol or a metaphor? “ These are some of the tricky questions that Saeed confronts in his film.
“I’m not a symbol” Salah tells me, repeatedly. “But if the Sahrawi people consider him a symbol, what do we call him? How do we tell a story that stubbornly refuses to be told?”
