Christopher Nolan criticized for filming in a city in occupied Western Sahara

Christopher Nolan criticized for filming in occupied Western Sahara city

Organisers of local film festival warn production of The Odyssey in Dakhla could normalise repression by Morocco

The organisers of the Western Sahara international film festival (FiSahara) have criticized Christopher Nolan for shooting part of his adaptation of the Odyssey in a Western Saharan city that has been under Moroccan occupation for 50 years, warning the move could serve to normalise decades of repression.

The British-American filmmaker's take on Homer's epic, starring Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, and Anne Hathaway, is set for release on July 17, 2026. According to Hollywood studio Universal, which is backing the project, the film will be "a mythic action epic shot around the world" made "using new IMAX cinematic technology." However, the decision to film in the Western Sahara coastal town of Dakhla has drawn harsh criticism from Sahrawi activists and those forced into occupation or exile after Morocco annexed the country following the withdrawal of its former colonial power, Spain, in 1976.

The UN classifies Western Sahara as a non-self-governing territory. In a report last year, the UN Secretary-General noted that the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had not had access to the territory since 2015, adding that the OHCHR continued to receive complaints related to human rights violations, including intimidation, surveillance, and discrimination against Sahrawi individuals, particularly when they advocated for self-determination. In its latest country report, Amnesty International stated that authorities continued to restrict dissent and the right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly in Western Sahara. Reporters Without Borders has described Western Sahara as a “desert for journalists” and said that “torture, detentions, physical abuse, persecution, intimidation, harassment, slander, defamation, technological sabotage, and long prison sentences are the daily bread for Sahrawi journalists.” Last month, the United Kingdom suggested it supported a proposal for Western Sahara to remain under Rabat's sovereignty, but with some degree of self-rule.

FiSahara organizers claim that the recent presence of Nolan's high-profile cast and crew in Dakhla will help whitewash the Moroccan occupation and normalize repression. Festival directors said that while Dakhla was "a beautiful location with cinematic sand dunes," it was, "first and foremost... an occupied and militarized city whose indigenous Sahrawi population is subject to brutal repression" by Moroccan occupation forces. "By filming part of The Odyssey in occupied territory... Nolan and his crew, perhaps unknowingly and unwittingly, are contributing to Morocco's repression of the Sahrawi people and the Moroccan regime's efforts to normalize its occupation of Western Sahara," said María Carrión, the festival's executive director.

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 crew would be horrified. FiSahara called on Nolan, his crew, and the cast to stand in solidarity with the Sahrawi people, who have been under military occupation for 50 years and are routinely imprisoned and tortured for their peaceful struggle for self-determination. Carrión claimed that Morocco was eager to control perceptions of its occupation abroad and used tourism and culture to project a distorted view of life in Western Sahara.

“Morocco only allows entry into occupied Western Sahara to those who fit its strategy of selling its occupation to the outside world,” he stated. “Tourists who flock to Moroccan-built and -owned resorts to practice kitesurfing, companies willing to participate in the plundering of natural resources, journalists willing to follow their example, and high-profile visitors like Nolan and his team, who help Morocco spread the idea that Western Sahara is part of Morocco and that Sahrawis are content to live under its rule, receive first-class treatment.” However, he added that Amnesty International, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, and “the hundreds of journalists and observers who have been banned or deported from entering the territory” would tell “a very different story.” Nolan’s representatives have been contacted for a response, but the director has yet to comment.

The Guardian understands that filming in the Dakhla area lasted four days and ended before the Fisahara festival raised the issue of the production's presence in Western Sahara. FiSahara, founded in 2004, is held in Sahrawi refugee camps in the Algerian desert. Known as the Cannes of the desert, its aim is to use cinema to entertain, transmit knowledge, and empower refugees from Western Sahara. This article was amended on July 29, 2025, to reflect additional information about the timing of the film's shooting in the Dakhla area.