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Sir Christopher Nolan, the acclaimed British filmmaker, has faced criticism for shooting a part of his new blockbuster film in a Western Sahara city that is currently under Moroccan occupation.
The latest film from the two-time Academy Award winner. The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway and Lupita Nyong’o is set to hit the big screen on 17 July 2026 – but Nolan’s take on Homer’s epic has become mired in controversy over his choice of shooting location.
Parts of the film, described by Hollywood studio Universal as a ‘mythic action epic shot across the world’ filmed ‘using brand new Imax film technology’, have been filmed in the Western Saharan coastal city of Dakhla.
Sahrawi activists, as well as the organisers for the Western Sahara International Film Festival (FiSahara), have criticized the move, claiming that it is an insult to the people who were forced into exile or to live in occupation after Morocco annexed their country following the withdrawal of Spain from the region during the 1970s.
In a letter signed by a host of Spanish film stars including Javier Bardem, Juan Diego Botto, Carolina Yuste, Luis Tosar, Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Iciar Bollain, Nolan and his film production company Syncopy are urged to ‘break their silence on why they chose the Moroccan-occupied city of Dakhla in Western Sahara as the location for filming scenes from the film’.
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“Mr Nolan shot there without the consent from the Sahrawi. He only received consent from the Moroccan occupying forces. Dakhla today and Western Sahara is not the ideal location Nolan imagined for his movie,” the text stated.
“Nolan’s team could have contributed unwittingly to the repression suffered by the people of Western Sahara through normalising Morocco’s brutal occupation,” continued the letter.
Nolan and his crew would surely be horrified by the full implications if they knew what it meant to film a high-profile movie in a region where indigenous peoples can’t make their own films telling their stories because of occupation.
The United Nations (UN) classifies Western Sahara as a ‘non-self governing territory’, while the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has not been granted access to the region since 2015, and ‘continues to receive allegations relating to human rights violations including intimidation, surveillance and discrimination against Sahrawi individuals particularly when advocating for self-determination’.
A recent report from Amnesty International said that the ‘authorities continued to restrict dissent and the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly in Western Sahara’.
Spain was a colonial power of Western Sahara in the late nineteenth century. However, it retreated in 1975 under increasing international pressure as the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco came to an end.
Read more: Javier Bardem joins protests against Western Sahara violations
Spain did not hold a referendum on behalf of the Sahrawi population, but instead signed the Madrid Accords (with Morocco and Mauritania) – effectively transferring the administrative control to these countries without UN approval. It also ignored a judgment from the International Court of Justice, which stated that they had no sovereignty in this region.
The Western Sahara conflict was sparked by the decision of the Polisario Front – a Sahrawi Nationalist Movement – to unilaterally declare independence and launch a campaign armed resistance.
About 30% of Western Sahara today is under the control of the Polisario Front. The remaining 70% are occupied by Morocco.
Nolan’s films have grossed over €5.5 billion worldwide, earning him accolades including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and two BAFTAs.
He was awarded a Knighthood in 2024 as a result of his contribution to filmmaking. Oppenheimer, Dunkirk, Interstellar The following are some examples of how to get started: The Dark Knight trilogy.
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