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In Pictures: Cannes of the desert

Exiled Saharawi refugees got the chance to rub shoulders with international filmmakers deep in the Algerian desert.

The Sahara International film festival, known as FiSahara, took place in a sun-baked refugee camp deep in the Algerian desert.
Published On 18 May 2014

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As the great and the good of the world’s film industry descended on Cannes, earlier this month a very different film festival was coming to a climax deep in the Sahara desert.

Far from the red-carpeted Mediterranean opulence of the Croisette, the Sahara International film festival, known as FiSahara, took place in a sun-baked refugee camp deep in the Algerian desert. What it may have lacked in glittering VIP premieres and champagne-fuelled yacht parties, FiSahara made up for in spades with dune parties, camel races and multiplex-sized screenings beneath the stars.

Now in its eleventh year, the FiSahara film festival attracted over 300 international actors, screen-writers and cinephiles, alongside thousands of Saharawi refugees exiled from their native Western Sahara for nearly four decades.

Nearly 300 international actors and screen-writers attended alongside thousands of Saharawi refugees exiled from their native Western Sahara for nearly four decades.
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Attendees met with refugee families, with whom they lived for five days, sleeping in their stucco-and-tented homes and sharing simple couscous meals and sweet tea.
With temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit, screenings took place after dusk, in makeshift cinemas or projected onto a giant screen attached to the side of an articulated lorry.
Thirty international films were included as well as several made by refugees themselves in the newly established refugee camp film school.
While the films reflected stories of hope and struggle, others were purely intended to entertain, offering refugees a glimpse of what lies beyond their desiccated desert horizons.
The festival(***)s first prize - an actual white camel - was awarded to "Legna" an evocative documentary about the traditions of Saharawi poetry.
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As well as films and workshops the festival also offered cultural activities, popcorn as well as children(***)s activities.
The third prize for the documentary "Dirty Wars" was collected by the film(***)s script writer, David Riker, who also led a screenwriting workshop for refugee filmmakers. "Saharawis have an overwhelming need to tell their stories."
Festival attendees worked alongside locals under the festival(***)s theme of "cinema for human rights in Western Sahara".
Filmmakers from some Arab countries as Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritania, Morocco and Palestine also attended.