Film stars Viggo Mortensen, Oona Chaplin and Ariadna Gil will be among hundreds of actors, directors and international visitors who will join thousands of refugees for the 12th edition of the world’s most remote film festival. Held in the Sahrawi refugee camps deep in the desert, the Western Sahara International Film Festival - known as FiSahara – will run from April 28 to May 3 and boast a world class line-up of cinema and big name bands.
In addition there will be numerous workshops, debates and roundtable discussions exploring this year’s theme of Universal Justice led by global human rights figures such as Nora de Cortiñas, president of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo of Argentina.
De Cortiñas will present the award-winning film about the struggle to discover the fate of “disappeared” grandchildren in Argentina, The Life of Estela whilst “Lord of the Rings” actor, Mortensen, will screen his new film, Loin des Hommes (Far From Men) set during the Algerian war.
Other highlights of the film programme include Oscar-winning Timbuktu, acclaimed Lebanese comedy Ghadi, the Bedouin road movie, Theeb and the award-winning Granito: How to Catch a Dictator which will be presented by its director Pamela Yates.
Films are projected at night onto huge outdoor screens beneath the stars. As well as international features, documentaries, animations and short films, the festival will also screen a range of films made by the refugees themselves in the film school set-up in 2011 as part of the Cinema for the Saharawi People project. The best of these Saharawi films will be selected to be screened as part of the Raindance Film Festival in London later this year.
