Sahrawi Identity Expressed Without Censure in Award-Winning Film

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) September 30, 2010 -- Thursday 7th October 2010
6.30-9.00 pm
Harrie Massey Lecture Theatre
University College London, 25 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AY
Free entry. Non UCL-students must be on the guest list to get in. Please email nina@sandblast-arts.org to be put on the list.

On Thursday 7th October 2010 from 6.30 to 9.00pm, the UCL Human Rights Programme, at the Harrie Massey Lecture Theatre, will host the projection of “El Problema”, a Spanish documentary, produced by Jordi Ferrer and Pablo Vidal. The film, winner of the Amnesty International Prize at the San Sebastian film festival in 2010, Human Rights Human Wrongs Film Festival in Oslo 2010, and the First Prize at FISAHARA 2010 International Sahara Film Festival, explores the lives of the indigenous Saharawi living in occupied Western Sahara.

The production draws on testimonies gathered over four and a half years in Western Sahara – secretly filmed images, given the Moroccan authorities’ prohibition of filming in the area. The documentary highlights how any physical expression of Saharawi identity is forbidden and even the use of the name Western Sahara or the word ‘referendum’ is a “problem”- El Problema of the unheard Saharawis.

The event is organised by the UCL Human Rights Programme and presented by Sandblast, an arts and human rights charity working with the indigenous people of Western Sahara. Among the initiatives promoted by Sandblast, one of the most exciting is the international sporting event known as the Saharamarathon. The marathon takes place annually in the Algerian Sahara in the Saharawi refugee camps near Tindouf, home to some 200,000 refugees for over 35 years, representing the other side of this double-edged sword that is the plight of the Saharawi. The marathon is organized by the refugees and volunteers from around the world and helps raise the visibility of the Saharawi plight as well as funds for projects to improve the lives of the long-term refugees. It offers a unique chance to learn their story and experience the legendary hospitality of this exiled desert culture first-hand.

For further information please contact Nina Murray (nina@sandblast-arts.org) or consult www.elproblema.net (‘El Problema’ website) and www.sandblast-arts.org (Sandblast homepage).

award-winning     documentary     Film Screening     human rights     Saharawi refugees     UCL     western sahara