RIDM

In the heart of the Moroccan desert, an improbable wall more than 2,400 kilometres long divides the Western Sahara into two distinct zones and keeps the ancient nomadic Sahrawi people in a state of permanent exile. Since the 1991 ceasefire, a war of attrition has pitted Moroccan soldiers against Sahrawis living in makeshift camps. From a premise that might have been made into an excellent classical documentary on a scandalous geopolitical situation, filmmaker Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd takes a different approach, distancing himself from actual testimonials to film, in grainy and sensuous Super 8, the faces and memorable stories of a people that seems to be one with this hotly contested piece of desert. A magnificent film on the profundity of a people’s identity.