Week 1 :
Thu Oct 15th, Private View / 7:30-9:30pm
*War in the Desert (45min, 1988), by Ian Taylor + Q&A with featured presenter Richard Dowden (President of Royal African Society)
*Music w/ Redah Boudbagh Trio: Arab-Andalouse music from the Maghreb
*Poetry reading from Settled Wanderes, by Sam Berkson & Mohamed Suleiman Labat
*’Free Western Sahara’ song by Renny Jackson
Fri Oct 16th, Film Screening / 7:00-9:30pm
*Brief Run the Sahara 2016 introduction
*The Runner (90min, 2012) + Q&A with director Saeed Taji Farouky
Sat Oct 17th, Film Screening / 4:30-6:30pm
*A Forgotten War (58min, 1998) screened on BBC 2 Correspondent programme + Q&A with director Chris Mitchell & associate producer Danielle Smith
Sun Oct 18th, Film Screening & Talk / 12:30-2:30pm
*El Khadra: Poetess of Resistance (22min, 2012), by Noë Mendelle for Al Jazeera English
*Talk by anthropologist Alice Wilson (Durham University): “The Saharawi Refugees: Experiments with Democracy”
Week 2 :
Wed Oct 21st, Film Screening / 1:00-3:30pm
*Brief Run the Sahara 2016 introduction
*Western Sahara (36min, 2010) as part of Tropic of Cancer series, by Simon Reeve
Thu Oct 22nd, Film Screenings / 1:00-3:30pm
*Michael Palin’s Sahara series (30min, 2002), by BBC
*The Sahara’s Forgotten War (36min, 2014), by Vice News
Fri Oct 23rd, Multi-Media Presentation / 6:30-9:30pm
*Join Olive Branch Arts for an evening of photography, film & poetry from & inspired by their work in the Saharawi refugee camps. Also a unique opportunity to creatively share thoughts, ideas & feelings with members of Saharawi youth theatre & residents of the land mine centre
Sat Oct 24th, Film Screenings, Debates & Music / 4:30-10:30pm
*Beat of Distant Hearts: The Art of Revolution in Western Sahara (45min, 2000) + Q&A with director Danielle Smith & ethnomusicologist Violeta Ruano (SOAS), who will be presenting music archive project “Portraits of Saharawi Music” (British Library) / 4:30-6:00pm
*La Badil (15min, 2011), by Dominic Brown + discussion with Saharawi youth representing civil society groups from either side of the Moroccan-built 2,700km-long wall in Western Sahara, Brahim Buhaia (Saharawi Voice) + other guests to be confirmed / 6:30-8:15pm
*Music w/ Renny Jackson & other guests + DJ session w/ Jamie Renton / 9:00-10:30pm
Sun Oct 25th, Talk & Music / 12:30-2:30pm
*Run the Sahara 2016 presentation
*Studio-Live experiences & recordings with singer-songwriter Pia de Keyser
Week 3 :
Wed Oct 28th, Final Exhibition Day / 10:00am-6:00pm
Notes:
*Studio-Live is an innovative music empowerment initiative being set up in the Saharawi refugee camps in SW Algeria, led by UK based charity Sandblast in close partnership with UK-based organisarions and the Saharawi Ministry of Culture in the refugee camps. Although focused on the musicians living in the refugee camps, the project aims also to establish a platform for Saharawi musicians in the Western Sahara occupied territories as well as the music diaspora living in Spain. http://www.sandblast-arts.org/our-projects/studio-live/
*Run the Sahara is Sandblast’s annual awareness-raising and fundraising event happening in the Saharawi refugee camps (SW Algeria). It is part of the Sahara Marathon, a unique and inspiring international running event. Next race will take place on 23rd Feb, 2016. You can choose to run a full marathon, a half marathon, 10km or 5km. If you don’t like to run, but would like to join, you are welcome to walk instead! http://www.sandblast-arts.org/our-projects/run-the-sahara/
*Sandblast is an arts and human rights charity working with the indigenous people from Western Sahara, the Saharawis, whose identity and culture is threatened by the impact of exile and Morocco’s occupation.
Sandblast’s mission is to empower the Saharawis to tell their own story. www.sandblast-arts.org
*Background history: Western Sahara is the last colony in Africa and the site of a protracted territorial dispute between the Moroccan kingdom, which claims sovereignty, and the Polisario Front, the Saharawi liberation movement which seeks independence. The majority of the Saharawis are refugees today in one of the harshest deserts in the world. Despite extreme hardships, the Saharawi refugee community has managed to build a democratically-run nation-in-exile, where women play a prominent role, defying Western preconceptions of Arab-Muslim societies. Thousands more Saharawis live under Morocco’s occupation in Western Sahara, deprived of their human rights. www.sandblast-arts.org/saharawis
