TUNIS, July 31 — The Sahara International Film Festival has called on director Christopher Nolan to exclude scenes filmed in Western Sahara from his upcoming movie, citing concerns over shooting in the disputed territory.
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, has been largely controlled by Morocco since 1975 but is considered a non-self-governing territory by the United Nations.
Morocco has long been in conflict with the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which seeks independence for the Sahrawi people.
“We’re calling on Nolan to stand in solidarity with the Sahrawi people,” said Maria Carrion, executive director of FiSahara, which takes place in Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria.
She told AFP the director’s decision to shoot in the region “legitimises the occupation and furthers colonialism”.
Nolan, who won an Oscar for Oppenheimer, reportedly filmed scenes for his 2026 release The Odyssey near the coastal city of Dakhla. The cast includes Matt Damon and Zendaya.
“We felt that Nolan being there shooting on a sand dune — when there are so many sand dunes in the world that he could have chosen that are not in occupied territories — was legitimising the occupation and furthering colonialism in Western Sahara,” Carrion said.
Moroccan Culture Minister Mehdi Bensaid was quoted by local outlet Medias24 as saying the production would boost Dakhla’s profile “as a filming destination, and not just a tourist destination”.
But Carrion said FiSahara was urging the director “not to use any of that footage in his film, because he did not get consent from Sahrawis”.
“He got consent from an occupying power, which is not real consent,” she added.
Carrion said the festival believed Nolan and his team were not “correctly informed” about the region’s disputed nature.
In 2020, the United States backed Morocco’s proposed autonomy plan for Western Sahara in exchange for Rabat’s normalisation of ties with Israel.
The Polisario Front maintains demands to hold a self-determination referendum. — AFP
