Kurzfilme: Resilienz

Resilience in Western Sahara is in the focus of this collection of short films. Five short documentaries tell the story of life and struggle of the Saharawis through the eyes of deminers, refugees, farm workers, and activists. Since 1975, most of Western Sahara has been occupied by Morocco, and most Saharawis live in refugee camps in Algeria. The Saharawis, represented by the Frente Polisario, demand to hold a referendum on independence promised in 1991. The Wall. Saharawi Wound (Il muro. La ferita del Sahara) Gilberto Mastromatteo, Fiorella Bendoni Ahmed lost a leg due to an anti-personnel mine, while he was grazing his camels. Fatimetu is just over 20 years old and works as a deminer near the wall that divides her country, Western Sahara. Mohamed explains the history of the barrier to the visitors of the Resistance Museum. Kadija lives of memories. She would like to return to her city, on the other side of the wall, but now she no longer hopes it. "The wall - Saharawi wound" is a documentary film by Gilberto Mastromatteo and Fiorella Bendoni, produced by the Ban Slout Larbi Association, under the patronage of the Italian section of Amnesty International and in collaboration with the Italian Association of Solidarity with the Saharawi people (Ansps) and the Italian parliamentary intergroup of friendship with the Saharawi people. This short documentary is about the consequences of the last anti-colonial conflict in Africa, endless and forgotten by the world. The war between Morocco and Polisario Front, in the Western Sahara, fought between 1975 and 1991 and restarted in 2020. Italy, 2020, d20’ Language: Arabic, Spanish with English subtitles A Garden That Means More Than a Garden Mario Pfeifer A man named 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 Saharawis 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. Algeria, 2023, 10’ Language: English with German subtitles The Madman of the Desert Julieta Cherep A documentary about Tateh Lehbib, a Saharawi refugee who, after graduating from university, designed an innovative hut made of plastic bottles filled with sand to improve harsh living conditions in the Tindouf desert. Spain, 2018, 30’ Language: Hassanyia with English subtitles They are just fish (Solo son peces) Paula Iglesias, Ana Serna Farming fish in the desert is all about withstanding high temperatures and constant sandstorms. It's about adapting to a new and very different environment. Teslem (32), Dehba (33), and Jadija (30) are three women all born in the Saharawi refugee camps in southern Algeria. They went north to study and later returned to the camps. They now work on a fish farm in the middle of the desert. It’s a place where summer temperatures can soar to 50C, and where winter sandstorms can destroy the greenhouse that protects the fish from the cold at night. Like the fish, the women yearn for a place that they’ve never seen. They yearn for the ocean. Spain, 2019, 17’ Language: Arabic with English subtitles Trailer I exist (Existo) Mohammed Mhamdi The film shows solidarity through the eyes of Saharawi children. Algeria, 2013; 5’ Language: Arabic with English subtitles