Following the first statement by the Western Sahara International Film Festival (FiSahara) denouncing the filming of scenes for The Odyssey in the city of Dakhla, in the Western Sahara occupied by Morocco, hundreds of people and organisations from the world of film, culture, journalism and human rights have signed FiSahara’s new statement urging Christopher Nolan, Universal Pictures and producers of the film to break their silence and cease to be accomplices to Morocco’s 50-year illegal occupation of Western Sahara. Among other facts perhaps unknown to Nolan, the statement explains that many Sahrawis from Dakhla had to undertake an exodus, their own Odyssey, when Morocco’s 1975 military invasion displaced them to Algeria and bombed them with white phosphorous.
The statement calls on Nolan, Universal Pictures and others to publicly acknowledge it was wrong to film scenes in occupied Dakhla and to not edit them into The Odyssey, or else request consent from the legal representatives of the Sahrawi people, the rightful owners of the land where the film was shot. Those who have signed include actor Javier Bardem, who made a film about Western Sahara, as well as his brother, actor Carlos Bardem, Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty, US film director David Riker, Timorese producer Lurdes Pires and Sahrawi human rights defender ElGhalia Djimi, who was disappeared for years in a Moroccan prison. Collectives of Sahrawi filmmakers under occupation like Equipe Media and Nuchatta, many of whom have been forced into exile due to Morocco’s persecution, also signed on, as well as students of the EFA Abidin Kaid Saleh film school in the camps and other Sahrawi refugee filmmakers. The global solidarity movement for Western Sahara has joined, and signatures are still being collected as the statement is made public.
“After the massive and very critical media coverage of The Odyssey shoot in occupied Dakhla, including by established Hollywood media such as Variety, we are surprised that Nolan and his team have not made any statements, so we decided to launch this statement”, said María Carrión, Executive Director of FiSahara. “For now, the only comments about The Odyssey’s shoot have come from the Moroccan minister of culture and his acolytes, who have celebrated Nolan and his team’s presence as a magnet to draw other international productions and turn occupied Dakhla into a film location. Until Nolan, Universal and The Odyssey team break their silence, Moroccan occupying authorities act as their de facto spokespeople, and they continue to enable the occupation and repression against Sahrawis under occupation, including filmmakers”.
FiSahara’s statement calls on Nolan and his team to directly engage with at-risk Sahrawi filmmakers, human rights defenders and journalists who are persecuted for documenting, filming and reporting on systematic human rights violations by Morocco in Western Sahara, and to learn firsthand about their situation. It also asks him to use his powerful platform to shed light on the critical situation inside occupied Western Sahara and in the refugee camps in Algeria, where the festival takes place. Its organisers invite The Odyssey’s team including Nolan and the actors, to visit FiSahara and stay with a Sahrawi refugee family to learn about Sahrawi reality.
Through social media and in an interview, Morocco’s Minister of culture said he had met in Dakhla with Nolan and other team members, including actress Charlize Theron, who is a UN Messenger of Peace and works to eliminate violence against women. “I am sure that Charlize Theron does not support the systematic gender-based violence that Moroccan occupying forces commit against Sahrawi women who peacefully advocate for their freedom”, said Carrión. “We encourage her to learn about it and to use her platform to support these brave women”.
