hurrengoa
fisahara 06 - 3. sahara international film festival lorea bidegain   I  lorea bidegain films under a star-studded desert sky Hammada. That’s what they call the desert. Eduardo Galeano says that nothing but rocks grow there. And there amongst the stones you can find the Saharaui in their mud huts and tents in the refugee camps. Over 200,000 people live in the four camps near Tinfuf. They just about scrap the basics together to survive. Nothing else. And that’s thanks to international solidarity. They’ve been there for more than thirty years now, thirty years away from their homeland. They’re waiting to return. They haven’t lost hope.
Every year for the last three just before Easter, the Sahara International Film Festival has taken place. A film festival where no-one competes. And where the complementary activities are as important as the films. Workshops for small kids and youngsters that carry on after the festival finishes. And video libraries. When the festival is over, these allow the people to continue watching films. Even the prize is unusual: a camel.
All the guests, directors, actors and actresses, journalists are split up into groups. These are refugee camps and there are no hotels. Everybody sleeps in a jaima tent with a local family. You have to learn the women of the tents’ names, all the jaimas and the mud huts look pretty much the same and it’s harder to find your way in that labyrinth than it is to find your way. The mothers name is the key to finding your way around, the reference needed. The children are always more than happy to help you home.
Living with a local family is a great and wonderful thing. They are an extremely welcoming people. They share everything they have even though they have times of great need. The children are amazing aids when it comes to communication. Lots of them have spent summers amongst us and their Spanish is quite good. A few of them even have the odd word of Basque.
Everyday live in the camp is quiet. The killer heat doesn’t help either. The surroundings are desert... Or better said: the desert surrounds us. There is nowhere or no reason to go. They haven’t developed the necessary infrastructure there because they have no intention of remaining there forever. This is a people who lives in wait. They wait to return to their land and their homes.