Stolen (2009)

Directed by

Violeta Ayala, Dan Fallshaw

Genre

documentary film

Country

Australia

Runtime

1h 15m

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary examines claims of slavery within Sahrawi refugee camps. Filmmakers face detention and an international campaign against their work by the Polisario Front, who dispute the film's portrayal of human rights abuses.

investigativeunsettlingsoberingurgenteye-openingconfrontingtenseserious

What happens

Stolen is a 2009 Australian documentary film that uncovers slavery in the Sahrawi refugee camps controlled by the Polisario Front located in Algeria and in the disputed territory of Western Sahara controlled by Morocco, written and directed by Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw. It had its world premiere at the 2009 Sydney Film Festival, where a controversy started after one of the participants in the documentary, Fetim, a black Sahrawi, was flown to Australia by the Polisario Liberation Front to say she wasn't a slave. The POLISARIO, avowing that it doesn’t condone slavery and needing to safeguard its image on the world stage to support its independence fight, began an international campaign against the film. It put out its own video denouncing Stolen, in which several people who Ayala and Fallshaw interviewed say they were coerced or paid by the Australian duo. On May the 2nd 2007, while filming in the refugee camps Ayala and Fallshaw were detained by the Polisario Front and Minurso and the Australian ministry of foreign affairs negotiated their release. "The Polisario Front officials criticised the interest the two journalists took in black members of the Sahrawi population, Reporters Without Borders has learned. Ayala told the press freedom organisation that she saw cases of enslavement. "The fact that they are fighting for their independence does not mean that Polisario’s leaders can allow themselves to commit such human rights violations", she said. "It is our duty as journalists to denounce such practices. We originally went there to work on the problem of separated families. But during our stay, we witnessed scenes of slavery". In 2008, Human Rights Watch published a report confirming that vestiges of slavery still affects the black minority in the Polisario refugee camps and in Western Sahara, the report included a manumission document signed by the POLISARIO's Ministry of Religious and Cultural Affairs. Stolen has screened in more than 80 film festivals worldwide including 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, IDFA, Seattle IFF, Stranger Than Fiction, Glasgow Film Festival, MIFF, One World Film Festival, Docaviv, It's All True, Singapore IFF, Cleveland IFF, Norwegian Short Film Festival, Frontline Club Liberation Season, and Amnesty International Film Festival. Stolen television premiere on PBS' World Channel as part of the Afropop Series hosted by Academy Award nominee actress Gabourey Sidibe was initially scheduled for 5 February 2013. Due to the controversy around the film, the broadcast was pushed back. "There’s been significant pressure placed on PBS to not show "Stolen" from US-based lobbyists (US law firm Foley Hoag have been paid the best part of $1,000,000 annually by the Algerian government since 2007 to lobby in the US on issues related to Western Sahara) for the Algerian government, who back the Polisario. It was this pressure on PBS that prompted WGBH to carry out their own investigation and present the "Stolen" two-hour special". Stolen premiered nationwide on 26 February 2013 on PBS, with a special report carried by journalist Phillip Martin that included an interview led by WGBH journalist Callie Crossley with the directors, followed by a panel discussion whether slavery exists in Western Sahara with Eric Goldstein (Deputy Director, Middle East and North Africa Division Human Rights Watch), Madeline Campbell (Professor of Urban Studies, Worcester State University) and Bakary Tandia (Mauritanian Anti-Slavery Activist). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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