Children of the Clouds; We are Saharawis; Mbeubeus
THREE SHORT FILMS (56min)
Venue: The British Museum – Stevenson Theatre
Children of the Clouds
Director: Carlos González, 2008, USA/Spain,17min
UK Première
Film-maker Carlos González travelled secretly to the Western Sahara to film the repression of Saharawi students by the Moroccan authorities. Disguised as a local, he found himself detained and interrogated for eight hours by the secret police, then accused of being an agent of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.
Contains secretly filmed footage of the Moroccan police violently suppressing any suggestion of dissent.
We are Saharawis
Director: Marta Fernandez, 2007, UK/Spain/Algeria, 25min
World Première
A young boy, Hussein, tells the story of his family, exiled from their land over 30 years ago and living in a barren corner of the Sahara desert. The Saharawis used to have their own land. They lived in the territory of Western Sahara, formerly a Spanish colony, until it was illegally annexed by Morocco and Mauritania in 1975. Driven out of their homes, over 150,000 of them now barely survive, forgotten victims of a distant conflict.
Mbeubeus
Director: Simona Risi, 2007, Italy, 16min
UK Première
13,000 tons of rubbish a day is deposited in the Mbeubeus dump near Dakar. Everything from home refuse to industrial waste. Next to the dump live 2,000 people who work on the mountainous piles of rubbish, collecting, buying, selling, repairing or recycling. Mame Ngor is one of the many children scratching a living from what others discard.
A beautifully crafted short film.
TICKETS
£3.00 from The British Museum Box office
Tel: 0207 323 8181
www.britishmuseum.org
