Sahara International Film Festival
Film festival held in the Sahrawi refugee camps, Algeria
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The Sahara International Film Festival, also known as FiSahara, is an annual event which takes place in the Sahrawi refugee camps, at the southwest corner of Algeria, near the border with Western Sahara. It is the only film festival in the world held in a refugee camp.[1][2] The first festival was in large part organised by Peruvian film director Javier Corcuera.[3]
| |
 Spanish actress Verónica Forqué at FiSahara IV (2007) | |
| Location | Sahrawi refugee camps, Tindouf, Algeria |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2003 |
| Awards | White Camel |
| Website | fisahara |
For its first three years, FiSahara was held alternately in the Wilaya of Smara, the Wilaya of Ausserd, and the Wilaya of El Aaiún. Since 2007, the festival has been staged in the Wilaya of Dajla. The event is backed by the Polisario Front,[3] but largely organised and funded by donors from Spain, the former colonial power in Western Sahara. The festival has attracted support from Spanish film celebrities, including Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, and Pedro Almodóvar.[citation needed] Musicians like Fermín Muguruza,[4][5] Manu Chao,[2] Macaco,[6] Iván Ferreiro,[7] El Chojin[8] and Tomasito[9] have performed in concerts during the festival.
FiSahara is billed as an initiative to bring film as an entertainment and cultural form to the thousands of Sahrawis who live in the Algerian desert. It also aims to provide cultural entertainment and educational opportunities to the refugees.
In 2010, a twinning agreement was signed between the FiSahara and the San Sebastian Human Rights Film Festival.[10]
White Camel winners
The White Camel (Arabic: الجمل الأبيض) is the festival's top prize, awarded for the best film by election of the spectators.[11] It consists of a white female camel, which is traditionally donated to the refugee family who hosted the actors or director of the winning film during the festival. The winners receive a trophy depicting a white camel and a desert rose.
| Edition | Winner | Original title | Director(s) | Production country(ies) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st (20–23 November 2003) |
The Living Forest | O bosque animado | Ángel de la Cruz and Manolo Gómez |  Spain |
[12] |
| 2nd (3–6 March 2005) |
Madame Brouette | L'extraordinaire destin de Madame Brouette | Moussa Sene Absa |  Senegal, France and Canada |
[13] |
| 3rd (4–9 April 2006) |
The Story of the Weeping Camel | Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel | Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni |  Mongolia and Germany |
[14] |
| 4th (10–15 April 2007) |
Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest | Azur et Asmar | Michel Ocelot | France, Belgium, Italy and Spain |
[15] |
| 5th (15–20 April 2008) |
It's a Free World... | Ken Loach |  United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Spain, |
[16] | |
| 6th (5–10 May 2009) |
Che: Part Two | Steven Soderbergh | Spain,
|
[17] | |
| 7th (26 April–2 May 2010) |
The Problem: Testimony of the Sahrawi People | El problema. Testimonio del pueblo saharaui | Jordi Ferrer and Pablo Vidal | Spain |
[18] |
| 8th (2–8 May 2011) |
Among Wolves | Entrelobos | Gerardo Olivares | Spain and |
[19] |
| 9th (1–6 May 2012) |
Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony | Hijos de las nubes: la última colonia | Álvaro Longoria | Spain |
[20] |
| 10th (8–13 October 2013) |
Mayibuye I | Milly Moabl |  South Africa |
[21] | |
| 11th (29 April–4 May 2014) |
Legna | Legna: habla el verso saharaui | Juan Ignacio Robles, Bahia Mahmud Awah and Juan Carlos Gimeno | Spain and Western Sahara |
[22] |
| 12th (28 April–3 May 2015) |
Granito: How to Nail a Dictator | Pamela Yates |  United States |
[23] | |
| 13th (11–16 October 2016) |
Leyuad: A Trip to the Verses Well | Leyuad, un viaje al pozo de los versos | Gonzalo Moure, Brahim Chagaf and Inés G. Aparicio | Western Sahara and Spain |
[24] |
| 14th (2–6 December 2018) |
Soukeina, 4400 Days of Night | Soukeina, 4400 días de noche | Laura Sipán | Spain |
[25] |
| 15th (15–20 October 2020) |
Champions | Campeones | Javier Fesser | Spain |
[26] |
| 16th (28 November–1 December 2021) |
Toufa | توفة | Brahim Chagaf | Western Sahara |
[27] |
| 17th (11–16 October 2022) |
Wanibik: The People Who Live in Front of Their Land | وَانِي بِيك | Rabah Slimani |  Algeria |
[28] |
| 18th (29 April–5 May 2024) |
200 Meters | ٢٠٠ متر | Ameen Nayfeh |  Palestine |
[29] |
Guest country
In some years, the festival has chosen a country to be a guest in the event. In such cases, films from the guest country are screened, and related events take place along with the other acts in the festival.
External links
- "FiSahara, International Film Festival, Festival international de Cine". fisahara.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 December 2023.[permanent dead link]
- "Objective FiSahara English" (PDF). donostia.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
The International Sahara Film Festival (FISahara), which began in 2002, is a personal initiative inspired by the President of the State Coordinator of Associated Friends of the Sahara (CEAS), who, without a doubt, discovered how to generate a current of enthusiasm and cohesion among the various active parties within Spanish cinema.
24-page book about the FiSahara festival, with texts by Javier Bardem, Javier Corcuera, Eduardo Galeano, Juan Carlos Izagirre, Paul Laverty, and others. - Bollero Real, David. "Sáhara Occidental: La Revolución del Cine o el Cine de la Revolución (translation: West Sahara: Revolution of the Cinema or Cinema of the Revolution)" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 December 2023.
- Simanowitz, Stefan (May 3, 2009). ""The Devil's Garden": Preview of the Sahara Film Festival". prospectmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
- Simanowitz, Stefan; Santaolalla, Isabel. "A Cinematic Refuge in the Desert: The FiSahara Film Festival (from St Andrew's University's Film Festival Yearbook 2011)". scribd.com. Scribd.Inc (digital document library), San Francisco, USA. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
During the 1960s, when decolonisation movements were sweeping the world, there was a joke that, after achieving independence, a country had to do three things: design a flag, launch an airline and found a film festival (Rich 1999: 79). Western Sahara has a flag but no airline and, despite a struggle that has lasted over three decades, it has yet to achieve independence. The closest Western Sahara comes to its own film festival is Festival Internacional de Cine del Sahara (FISahara) (www.festivalsahara.com), a festival like no other that takes place in a refugee camp in the middle of the desert.