La Badil
15 mins | 2012 | 16:9
Producer, director, camera & editor
Western Sahara is an occupied territory on the northwest coast of Africa. A decades long independence struggle from Moroccan rule grips the country and shows little sign of resolution, with the state imposed crackdown against the indigenous population accelerating in recent years.
La Badil (No Other Choice), was filmed undercover in Western Sahara on the eve of the second anniversary of the 2010 uprisings that marked the start of the Arab Spring. Over 15,000 indigenous Sahrawis had formed a peaceful protest camp in the desert resisting Moroccan rule, but it failed to draw international media attention. When the camp was eventually broken up by Moroccan security forces, four civilians and eleven police officers were killed. Since then, Moroccan authorities have undertaken an intense campaign to quell rising independence sentiment and silence those that dare to speak out.
La Badil explores the issues behind Morocco’s ongoing occupation of Western Sahara and shares a rarely seen insight into the situation on the ground for the Sahrawi people living under oppressive rule. Activists and human rights victims tell their stories against the backdrop of the ongoing struggle for self-determination in a climate where state terror is the norm and the most basic of human rights are denied.
Since its release, La Badil has screened at over 20 film festivals around the world, and was shortlisted for the Best Documentary award at the 2013 Portobello Film Festival, London. DVD copies of the film are available here.
Festival screenings:
Film premiere at SOAS, London, UK, 2012
Maidstone Film Festival, UK, 2012
Culture Unplugged, global, 2012
Festival de Cine y Derechos Humanos, Spain, 2013
Portobello Film Festival, UK, 2013
Fifi Street Film Festival, France, 2013
Fi Sahara, Algeria,2013
Steps International Film Festival, Ukraine, 2013
International Exile Film Festival, Sweden, 2013
FICiP Argentina Festival Internacional de Cine Político, Argentina, 2014
The 11th Moghavemat International Film Festival, Iran, 2014
Hundred Years Gallery, London, UK, 2015
Human Rights Human Wrongs Film Festival, Oslo, Norway, 2016
International Exile Film Festival, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2016
Arroios Film Festival, Portugal, 2017