Children in exile: Sahrawi, refugees children of refugees(2010)

Les Petites Aiguilles(fr)

Robbed of Truth(en)

This is the true story of Fetim Salam, a Saharawi refugee falsely portrayed as a slave in the Australian documentary 'Stolen'. Australian filmmakers, Violeta Ayala and Daniel Fallshaw, travel to the Saharawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria in 2007 and claim to discover 20,000 slaves in the camps run by the independence movement Polisario Front. Refugees are outraged for being portrayed as slaves, and humanitarian aid workers are incredulous about these allegations as they know the camps intimately. Filmmaker Carlos Gonzalez retraces their steps in search of the truth and finds a web of lies, misinformation and Moroccan operatives reshaping the truth.

Illegal Love(en)

In 2008 French filmmaker Julie Gali traveled to the US to film the election of Barack Obama. In spite of this victory for civil rights, it soon became apparent that the rights of another minority were under threat. In California the passing of Proposition 8 marked the only time in U.S. history that a civil right was actually taken away after it had been granted. Upon seeing this, Ms. Gali decided to immerse herself in the growing grassroots struggle of the gay community, which culminated in the October 11, 2009 March for Equality in Washington DC.

Women of the free Sahara(es)

The Sahara has been and is populated by peoples who have passed through and occupied it since time immemorial. The Sahrawis are one of these peoples. When Spain withdrew from its colony in 1976, Morocco invaded. Thousands have had to leave their lands to seek refuge in camps in the Sahara, in neighboring Algeria, and thousands have had to migrate to Spain and other destinations outside the Sahara. And it is the women who built the camps while the men fought, and it is they who have increasingly gained social, cultural, and political influence in the territory and in the diaspora. This is their history and their reality.

With Almost Nothing(pt)

In Cape Verde, where the majority of the population is young, children use olive oil cans, bits of sandals, leftover tires and pieces of cardboard to build their own toys. The absence of a consumer society and the challenges posed by insularity have led them to invent their own recreational independence with almost nothing.

Just Shoot Me(pt)

The UN estimates street children worldwide at 150 million. In Latin America, they are 40 million. In Brazil, street boys and girls felt so enchanted by a camera that they took it as their own to express themselves and fight the silence.

Legna(ar)

"Legna: speak the Saharawi verse" is an audiovisual poetry story that traces the essential elements of the Saharawi culture, chaining the verses recited in a rigorous and evocative way in Hasania and Spanish by the poets and poetesses themselves. Poems that sing and evoke the essence of Bedouin material culture linked to the movement from Saquia el Hamra to Rio de Oro. A magical journey from the Draa River in the north to Agüenit and Leyuad on the southern border with Mauritania, from the coast with the white beaches of Bojador up to the vague boundaries of the Badia. A Saharawi national territory marked by the trace of the recent history of revolution, war, resistance (intifada) and waiting. Territory, history, culture, basted from poetry full of life, love and nostalgia.

Soukeina, 4400 days of night(es)

After the military occupation of Western Sahara in 1976, Moroccan government attacked the civil population with hard repression, forcing hundreds of Saharan people to “disappear” in clandestine jails. An invisible and slow death was the only horizon. However, some prisoners were able to survive after suffering their own “extinction” for more tan 10 years, ripped from their families, suffering torture, in total isolation. When they finally were released, their known world had changed radically.

The Honest Poet(fa)

Through a child's lens, The Honest Poet reveals a rarely seen side of Afghanistan, following 11-year-old Raheem on a journey through his country and into the homes and hearts of his people.

Magic Sahara(es)

The magic of life in the desert and that which takes place on a stage, the tricks that one has to learn in order to survive and those that bring a smile to your face. Two worlds that you find behind a clown’s nose and 1500 excited children.

The whisper of the sand(es)

Awserd refugee camp, Tindouf. Fatma has not seen her brother for 30 years, since they parted after the Moroccan invasion of Western Sahara. Now he is coming on a United Nations flight to stay for a few days. While Fatma and her family prepare for the visit, they describe their life in the worst corner of the Algerian desert. Meanwhile, human rights activists in the Sahara itself are persecuted by the Moroccan authorities. Leading figures and specialists in the subject set out their theories for securing a fair solution to this conflict, which has already continued for too long.

Tebraa, portraits of Sahrawi women(es)

Tebraa is the song of the women of the Sahara desert. Songs of love or lamentation that they sing when they are alone. This collective documentary made by a group of Andalusian women tells the life and injustices that Sahrawi women experience in the adverse conditions of exile and in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.

Crisis(es)

In the middle of Western Sahara desert, where no water, no trees, no animals live but a bunch of refugees, struggling in poverty to survive the harsh habitat, the least of the problem one might face is the environmental crisis.

Sahara Project: From Sant Coloma to Dajla(ca)

This film presents, through the eyes four students - Gemma, Colo, Cristian and Mireia - their experience of the trip, the feelings that moved them, the work carried out in the camps and, above all, their contribution to raising awareness of the unresolved difficulties the Sahrawi people face.

Sahrawis, the eyes of the desert(es)

An approach to Sahrawi culture, different aspects of daily life, culture and the struggle of the Sahrawi people in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, and in the area of the liberated territories of Tifariti.

Sahara is not for sale(es)

In April 2007, during the celebration of FiSahara, three friends embarked on the adventure of teaching a photography course in the Dajla refugee camp in Algeria.

Journey to Saharawi – The Courage to Live for Freedom(it)

In the stunning and starkly beautiful landscape of Western Sahara, Walter Bencini recounts his journey to meet the Saharawi people, uprooted from their lands for decades and confined to desert tent camps named after the Moroccan cities where they once lived. It's the solidarity journey of a group of people from Valdarno, delivering the money and medicines raised through various initiatives directly into the hands of the beneficiaries.

Sahrawi people(es)

Documentary about the arduous early years of the Sahrawi cause (1977)

Goulili, tell me, my sister(fr)

The Sahrawi women relate their exil, the tortures, their memories and the difficulties of life as refugees. They are beautiful, touching... Educated by the Polisario Front and attached to the values of islam, they are widows, divorcede or married to fighting men. Owing to the force of circumstances, they have built a society of independant muslim women...

Facing into the wind(es)

Documentary about Aminatou Haidar and her fight for the Sahrawi rights