Ali Salem, architect of resistance(2008)

Occupation, the 27th Picture(hr)

We encounter the controversial Croatian film director Lordan Zafranovic in voluntary exile in Prague. The film follows his rise from a talented outsider to the celebrated Yugoslav director of the acclaimed war film, 'An Occupation in 26 Pictures'. His life story is an unconventional depiction of a rise and fall that reveals compromises made in order to survive artistically during communism, as well as the missed opportunities and miscalculations that led to his inability to adapt in later years. Is the charismatic Zafranovic a national traitor or a victim of historical circumstances in which the only thing he wanted to do, in his own words, was to be himself and make films?

Aufenthaltserlaubnis(de)

It follows Chilean writer Antonio Skármeta as he celebrates the end of the autocrats. Cheerful farewell rituals accompany others facing political persecution on their way to fly home.

何以为家(zh)

Galoot(en)

A film essay by Asher de Bentolila Tlalim, an Israeli filmmaker living in London, GALOOT ("Exile" in Hebrew) is an extended meditation on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the eyes of those living at a distance. Through international visits (London, Israel, Morocco and Poland) and dialogue-with Palestinian refugees, the new immigrants to Israel who now occupy their homes, the current occupants of his family's former house in Tangiers, the residents of the former village of his wife's family in Lisensk, a scientist, a jazz musician, and others-the filmmaker explores the position of exile, with its unique pain and perspective on what others may be too close to perceive.

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.

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.

Shâd Bâsh(fr)

Sahara Marathon(eu)

This film offers a picture of the tense situation in which the Sahrawi people have lived for more than 30 years. The yearly celebration of a marathon in the Sahrawi refugee camps serves as the central focus of the story.

The hidden fire(es)

Silence always surrounds the mine, first when it explodes and then when it eternally haunts its victims. The history of the silence of this fire hidden by Morocco in the sand of Western Sahara has left more than 4,000 victims in what is considered the largest minefield in the world. Daha and Fatimetu suffered the effect of the silence of the mines, their lives changed forever, like that of the Saharawi people who, after 14 years cleaning the desert of artifacts, the rupture of the ceasefire have left the future of the contamination of their territory.

Daughters of sand(es)

Benda, a young Sahrawi woman in the diaspora wonders about the future of her people's children and women. We accompany her on an emotional journey to the refugee camps to see the more human face of the conflict. The film leaves the political as a mere context to focus on the dreams and drama of a people determined in their struggle to return home.

Champs-Élysées(it)

A boy has a dream of traveling to the world, especially to Paris where his uncle lives, but a wall built on his land divides his country and does not allow him to travel or cross to the other side of his land.

A garden that means more than a garden(en)

Taleb, who came to a refugee camp at the age of five in 1975 and returned there after his studies abroad, tells of his life as a displaced person, his gratitude for the reception and support in Algeria, and his hope that the Sahrawis may one day return to their homeland. For Taleb, this hope drives him to actively prepare for better times: as a graduate in agricultural sciences, he conceived a successful small-scale closed-loop economy in a desert under the most difficult conditions, producing enough food for self-sufficiency.

The nomad garden(ar)

The Nomad Garden is an ode to the impossible. A young Sahrawi refugee shows how he grows organic vegetables and herbs in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, overcoming challenges like the lack of water, extreme temperatures and a barren soil.

AIMRA, no man's land(es)

Western Sahara is a country full of stories. We chose to focus on the Sahrawi women living in Spain, where they have taken up careers in different areas: doctors, nurses, teachers, artists, lawyers, writers. We coexist with them. Some are Muslim, others have strayed away from their original culture, although they remain persistent on defending the most ancestral parts of their traditions. It is a gaze through the exiled Sahrawi woman’s eyes.

Running home(en)

Inma (24) is determined to win a marathon in the Sahara Desert. But her motives run deeper than the physical challenge. A few months ago, she came across adoption papers that revealed the birthplace of her biological mother: Laayoune, Western Sahara. Having never heard of the country, she decides to train for an international marathon that takes place in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Northern Africa. It is the perfect opportunity for her to learn about a history she never faced growing up in Spain.

Waiting for the UN(en)

Waiting for the UN is a poetic documentary about life in the desert, literally and figuratively. We follow the everyday life of a Saharawi family from occupied Western Sahara, who have lived ”temporary” in a refugee camp in Algeria for over 40 years. Waiting for God and the UN, as the father puts it.

Atu, the face of a forgotten nation(es)

Atu is a 12-year-old Saharawi girl who comes to Valencia every summer to escape the suffocating desert summer in exile. Two opposing worlds between a conflict that has driven hundreds of thousands of people away from Western Sahara forcing them to live in southwestern Algeria. At her young age, with little resources and no homeland, she courageously faces the future.

Oasis(ar)

OASIS, a documentary that tells us about water's historical role in Western Sahara via the true stories of people who turned this wild desert into a place full of life.

The madman of the desert(es)

This documentary tells the story of Tateh Lehbib, a Saharawi refugee who after studying Renewable Energy at the University of Algiers and then a master's degree in energy efficiency at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, has designed a type of shelter made with plastic bottles filled with sand. This innovative circular shelter aims to improve the harsh living conditions experienced in the desert in Tindouf, reducing internal temperature and offering a better resistance to sandstorm, while having an eco-friendly purpose by reusing plastic bottles.

Sadig: my Sahrawi friend(es)

Habub and Marcos establish a relationship through “video letters” during the wintertime. Through these videos, we see what daily life is like in the Sahrawi refugee camps and, more importantly, how important the friendship between these two kids is.