Festival de cinéma du Sahara (FiSahara)
Français
LES ORIGINES DU FESTIVAL: LA CAUSE SAHRAOUIE
Depuis 1965, quand le Sahara Occidental était encore une des colonies espagnoles, le peuple sahraoui réclame son indépendance en tant que République Arabe Sahraouie Démocratique (RASD). Depuis, le support de la communauté internationale, à travers plusieurs résolutions de l’ONU et du Tribunal International de L’Haye, a été réduit substantiellement, ne restant plus que quelques bonnes intentions sans aucun résultat effectif.
Avant le retrait en 1976, l’Espagne a signé l’accord tripartite de Madrid et a adjugé les territoires au Maroc et à la Mauritanie. C’est alors que le Maroc a envahi la région dans sa célèbre Marche Verte et, en conséquence, des milliers de Sahraouis ont été expulsés vers le désert algérien, créant des camps où ils-y subsistent encore de nos jours.
La guerre entre le Front Polisario, représentant légitime du peuple sahraoui, et le Royaume marocain atteignait le cessez-le feu en 1991, quand la célébration d’un referendum d’autodétermination, qui permettrai au peuple sahraoui de choisir librement son destin, a été convenu.
Depuis, le Maroc a bloqué tous les efforts pour la mise en marche de cette consultation, en empirant la situation des camps de réfugiés. Le manque d’eau, d’électricité et d’aliments est aggravé par les inclémentes conditions climatologiques que prés de 200.000 réfugiés, dont la plus part femmes et enfants, doivent supporter.
Le FESTIVAL DE CINEMA DU SAHARA (FiSahara) est né il y a 6 ans avec l’espoir de disparaitre en peu de temps, car sa finalité est de résoudre la dramatique situation des réfugiés du Sahara Occidental. Dans ce but, FiSahara, avec le projet Cinéma pour le peuple Sahraoui, met sa main à la pâte en approchant la réalité quotidienne de ce peuple à l’opinion publique internationale.
FiSahara est un festival de cinéma non-compétitif, qui rassemble l’éducation, la culture et le loisir sous forme d’un cinéma en plein air, en 35mm. Fruit des efforts de nos nombreux volontaires et avec le soutien de plusieurs institutions, comme l’Agence Espagnole de Coopération Internationale pour le Développement (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo, AECID), le Ministère de Culture espagnol,àtravers l’Institut de Cinématographie et des Arts Audiovisuels, (Instituto de Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales, ICAA), ou Auteurs Interprètes Société de Gestion (Autores Intérpretes Sociedad de Gestión, AISGE), aussi bien que l’inestimable collaboration du Ministère de Culture de la RASD et le peuple Sahraoui lui-même, il nous est à présent possible de développer le festival, malgré les conditions inhérentes à un camp de réfugiés.
Depuis 1965, quand le Sahara Occidental était encore une des colonies espagnoles, le peuple sahraoui réclame son indépendance en tant que République Arabe Sahraouie Démocratique (RASD). Depuis, le support de la communauté internationale, à travers plusieurs résolutions de l’ONU et du Tribunal International de L’Haye, a été réduit substantiellement, ne restant plus que quelques bonnes intentions sans aucun résultat effectif.
Avant le retrait en 1976, l’Espagne a signé l’accord tripartite de Madrid et a adjugé les territoires au Maroc et à la Mauritanie. C’est alors que le Maroc a envahi la région dans sa célèbre Marche Verte et, en conséquence, des milliers de Sahraouis ont été expulsés vers le désert algérien, créant des camps où ils-y subsistent encore de nos jours.
La guerre entre le Front Polisario, représentant légitime du peuple sahraoui, et le Royaume marocain atteignait le cessez-le feu en 1991, quand la célébration d’un referendum d’autodétermination, qui permettrai au peuple sahraoui de choisir librement son destin, a été convenu.
Depuis, le Maroc a bloqué tous les efforts pour la mise en marche de cette consultation, en empirant la situation des camps de réfugiés. Le manque d’eau, d’électricité et d’aliments est aggravé par les inclémentes conditions climatologiques que prés de 200.000 réfugiés, dont la plus part femmes et enfants, doivent supporter.
Le FESTIVAL DE CINEMA DU SAHARA (FiSahara) est né il y a 6 ans avec l’espoir de disparaitre en peu de temps, car sa finalité est de résoudre la dramatique situation des réfugiés du Sahara Occidental. Dans ce but, FiSahara, avec le projet Cinéma pour le peuple Sahraoui, met sa main à la pâte en approchant la réalité quotidienne de ce peuple à l’opinion publique internationale.
FiSahara est un festival de cinéma non-compétitif, qui rassemble l’éducation, la culture et le loisir sous forme d’un cinéma en plein air, en 35mm. Fruit des efforts de nos nombreux volontaires et avec le soutien de plusieurs institutions, comme l’Agence Espagnole de Coopération Internationale pour le Développement (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo, AECID), le Ministère de Culture espagnol,àtravers l’Institut de Cinématographie et des Arts Audiovisuels, (Instituto de Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales, ICAA), ou Auteurs Interprètes Société de Gestion (Autores Intérpretes Sociedad de Gestión, AISGE), aussi bien que l’inestimable collaboration du Ministère de Culture de la RASD et le peuple Sahraoui lui-même, il nous est à présent possible de développer le festival, malgré les conditions inhérentes à un camp de réfugiés.
English
The FiSahara is the most remote and the most remarkable film festival in the world. Now in its 10th year, it is a non-commercial, non-competitive festival which takes place in a refugee camp in the Algerian desert. Each year hundreds of actors, directors and film industry insiders from around the world join the Saharawi refugees for a week-long gala of screenings, parallel activities and concerts deep in the Sahara desert.
The film festival provides entertainment and educational opportunities to the refugees and a unique cultural celebration for visitors. Through the attendance and support of renowned people such as Javier Bardem, Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach, and Penelope Cruz, the festival serves to raise awareness of the situation of the forgotten refugees, exiled from their native Western Sahara for over three decades by an unlawful occupation.
The festival’s programme has steadily expanded over the years and FiSahara 2013 boasts over 15 films from around the world. Many of the films reflect themes of hope and struggle but there are also comedies, short films, animations and documentaries, some made by the refugees themselves.
The mission of the festival is:
to deliver a unique cultural, educational and entertainment experience to the Sahrawi refugees.
to raise international awareness of the refugee’s situation in the international community.
to enable the Saharawi to tell their own story through film by leaving a lasting legacy of skills and equipment in the camps.
Where is FiSahara held?
The festival takes place in the unlikely setting of Dakhla, the remotest of four refugee camps in south western Algeria. Dakhla is clean and well-organised, with wide sandy streets lined with rectangular houses and tents forming neat family compounds. Visitors stay with the refugee families where they experience the warmth and hospitality for which the Saharawi are famed.
The festival site is in a spacious area in the centre of the camp, with its focal point a multiplex-sized outdoor screen attached to the side of an articulated lorry. The screen is in an open courtyard with space for 300 people seated on mats in the sand, surrounded by tents, exhibitions and indoor screenings as well as stalls and cafés.
Who are the refugees and why are they there?
Around 165,000 Saharawi refugees live in the camps. Originally from Western Sahara – effectively Africa’s last colony – they fled to the camps to avoid fighting that erupted after the Spanish colonial powers divided the territory between Morocco and Mauritania 1976. The 15 year war broke between the Saharawi independence movement, the Polisario Front, and the Moroccan occupying armies ended in 1991 with a UN ceasefire agreement under whose terms a referendum for self-determination was promised. Twenty years later and despite efforts by the international community, including over 100 UN resolutions, the referendum has not taken place. Over half the Saharawi population continue to live in exile in the inhospitable Algerian desert, separated from their homeland by a 2,500 km fortified barrier known as ‘the Berm’. It is against the backdrop of this political crisis and the resulting human suffering that FISahara takes place.
Why is FiSahara held?
Film screenings might be seen as an unusual luxury for refugees who are entirely dependent on external aid for most of their basic needs but the film festival organisers believe that providing the refugees with cultural, educational and entertainment opportunities is very important.
But beyond the festival, the new permanent opportunities for audiovisual training are being created. Each camp is being equipped with DVD libraries, video projectors, sound equipment, screens and DVD recorders. Video technicians have been trained to look after each library, and a new Film School opened in a neighbouring camp last year.
The film festival provides entertainment and educational opportunities to the refugees and a unique cultural celebration for visitors. Through the attendance and support of renowned people such as Javier Bardem, Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach, and Penelope Cruz, the festival serves to raise awareness of the situation of the forgotten refugees, exiled from their native Western Sahara for over three decades by an unlawful occupation.
The festival’s programme has steadily expanded over the years and FiSahara 2013 boasts over 15 films from around the world. Many of the films reflect themes of hope and struggle but there are also comedies, short films, animations and documentaries, some made by the refugees themselves.
The mission of the festival is:
to deliver a unique cultural, educational and entertainment experience to the Sahrawi refugees.
to raise international awareness of the refugee’s situation in the international community.
to enable the Saharawi to tell their own story through film by leaving a lasting legacy of skills and equipment in the camps.
Where is FiSahara held?
The festival takes place in the unlikely setting of Dakhla, the remotest of four refugee camps in south western Algeria. Dakhla is clean and well-organised, with wide sandy streets lined with rectangular houses and tents forming neat family compounds. Visitors stay with the refugee families where they experience the warmth and hospitality for which the Saharawi are famed.
The festival site is in a spacious area in the centre of the camp, with its focal point a multiplex-sized outdoor screen attached to the side of an articulated lorry. The screen is in an open courtyard with space for 300 people seated on mats in the sand, surrounded by tents, exhibitions and indoor screenings as well as stalls and cafés.
Who are the refugees and why are they there?
Around 165,000 Saharawi refugees live in the camps. Originally from Western Sahara – effectively Africa’s last colony – they fled to the camps to avoid fighting that erupted after the Spanish colonial powers divided the territory between Morocco and Mauritania 1976. The 15 year war broke between the Saharawi independence movement, the Polisario Front, and the Moroccan occupying armies ended in 1991 with a UN ceasefire agreement under whose terms a referendum for self-determination was promised. Twenty years later and despite efforts by the international community, including over 100 UN resolutions, the referendum has not taken place. Over half the Saharawi population continue to live in exile in the inhospitable Algerian desert, separated from their homeland by a 2,500 km fortified barrier known as ‘the Berm’. It is against the backdrop of this political crisis and the resulting human suffering that FISahara takes place.
Why is FiSahara held?
Film screenings might be seen as an unusual luxury for refugees who are entirely dependent on external aid for most of their basic needs but the film festival organisers believe that providing the refugees with cultural, educational and entertainment opportunities is very important.
But beyond the festival, the new permanent opportunities for audiovisual training are being created. Each camp is being equipped with DVD libraries, video projectors, sound equipment, screens and DVD recorders. Video technicians have been trained to look after each library, and a new Film School opened in a neighbouring camp last year.
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