Spanish cinema opposes Christopher Nolan's Odyssey: Javier Bardem, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Carolina Yuste, and other artists call for the filming to be canceled.

Javier Bardem , Rodrigo Sorogoyen , Icíar Bollaín , Juan Diego Botto , Carolina Yuste , Itziar Ituño , Luis Tosar , Javier Gutiérrez , Nathalie Poza , Amparo Sánchez or Eliseo Parra , among many others, have signed the manifesto promoted by the International Sahara Film Festival , FiSahara, against the filming of Christopher Nolan 's new film, The Odyssey . The reason, the city chosen to give life to Homer's great work, Dakhla, in Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco.

It was at the end of July when FiSahara urged the director of Oppenheimer to halt filming of his new blockbuster in Western Sahara, denouncing that "Dakhla is an occupied and militarized city whose indigenous Sahrawi population is subjected to brutal repression by the Moroccan occupying forces." In its manifesto against The Odyssey , the Festival denounced that Nolan filmed there "without the consent of the Sahrawi people ." "The only consent he received came from the occupying force: Morocco," it states.

The signatories, who have joined over the weeks, invite Nolan and his team to engage directly with Sahrawi human rights defenders, filmmakers, and journalists "who are being persecuted by Morocco for their work documenting, filming, and denouncing systematic human rights violations in Western Sahara."

"We urge Nolan , Universal , and the companies involved in The Odyssey to publicly acknowledge that they should not have filmed scenes in Dakhla, and to either not edit them into the film or obtain consent from the Sahrawi people to do so," the manifesto states.

Christofer Nolan , Zendaya , and Matt Damon , the film's stars, arrived in Dakhla on July 17 to begin filming there. However, FiSahara believes that filming should be halted immediately, as Western Sahara is classified as a "non-self-governing" territory by the United Nations, "is under Moroccan occupation, and its decolonization has not yet been completed."

"By filming part of The Odyssey in an occupied territory classified as a "journalistic desert" by Reporters Without Borders , Nolan and his team, perhaps unknowingly and unwittingly, are contributing to Morocco's repression of the Sahrawi people and to the Moroccan regime's efforts to normalize its occupation of Western Sahara," says FiSahara's executive director, María Carrión .

"We're sure that if they understood the full implications of filming a high-profile movie in a territory whose Indigenous peoples are unable to make their own films about their stories under occupation, Nolan and his team would be horrified," the Festival adds.

Following this first statement from the Sahara International Film Festival (FiSahara) denouncing the filming of scenes from The Odyssey in the city of Dakhla, more than a hundred artists, journalists, activists and human rights defenders have joined the festival's manifesto , which calls on director Christopher Nolan, Universal Pictures studio and the producers of the film The Odyssey to "break their silence and not be complicit in Morocco's illegal occupation of Western Sahara."

International figures such as filmmakers Javier Bardem, Paul Laverty, David Riker, Lurdes Pires and the Sahrawi human rights defender ElGhalia Djimi , who disappeared in a Moroccan prison for years, are leading a manifesto demanding that Nolan and Universal Pictures publicly acknowledge that they should not have filmed scenes in Dakhla, and that they not use them in the editing of the film , or that they obtain the consent to do so from the Sahrawi people through their legal representatives.

"Following extensive press coverage, highly critical of the filming of The Odyssey in occupied Dakhla, including Hollywood outlets such as Variety , we are surprised that Nolan and his team have not issued any statement and that is why we have issued this manifesto," Carrión said.

"For now, the only statements about the filming come from the Moroccan Minister of Culture and his acolytes, who celebrate the presence of Nolan and his team as a magnet for turning Dakhla into a set for international filming. Until they break their silence, Morocco acts as a mouthpiece for Christopher Nolan, Universal, and their team, making them complicit in the occupation and repression against Sahrawis under occupation, including filmmakers," he asserts harshly.

FiSahara urges Nolan to use "his powerful platform" to shed light on "the critical situation" suffered by the Sahrawi people under Moroccan occupation and in exile in "extreme conditions in the refugee camps in Algeria, where the festival is taking place." Its organizers also invite Nolan to attend the festival and stay with a Sahrawi refugee family to learn about their reality.

FiSahara , a member of the Human Rights Film Network that has hosted numerous film stars such as Javier Bardem, human rights defenders such as former president of the Center for Constitutional Rights Michael Ratner , and many others in its 18 editions, takes place in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, where thousands of Sahrawis fled in 1975 following the Moroccan invasion of Western Sahara. In 1991, after a 16-year war between the Moroccan army and the Sahrawi Liberation Movement known as the Polisario Front, a UN-brokered ceasefire promised the Sahrawis a self-determination referendum, which has not taken place.

"Morocco only allows entry into occupied Western Sahara to those who fit its strategy of selling its occupation to the outside world , " Carrión complains. "Tourists who go to Moroccan-built and -owned resorts to practice kitesurfing , companies willing to participate in its plundering of natural resources, journalists willing to toe the line, and high-profile visitors like Nolan and his team who help Morocco sell the narrative that Western Sahara is part of Morocco are all given the red carpet treatment," he adds.