FiSahara celebra su 20º aniversario en Madrid al grito de ¡Descolonicemos!

FiSahara celebra su 20º aniversario en Madrid al grito de ¡Descolonicemos!

 

Veinte años después de que sus proyectores iluminaran por primera vez las pantallas de cine en pleno desierto del Sáhara, FiSahara vuelve a la capital del 15 al 17 de diciembre para celebrar la tercera edición de FiSahara Madrid. Con el lema ¡Descolonicemos!, esta edición especial celebra el 20º aniversario de FiSahara, creado en 2003 para llevar la magia del cine a los campamentos de población refugiada saharaui en el desierto argelino y poner el foco informativo en un conflicto ignorado por la comunidad internacional.

«Celebramos 20 años de un festival resistente, rebelde y anti-colonial, que ha realizado 17 ediciones en campamentos y tres en Madrid a pesar de todos los obstáculos que se ha ido encontrando por su camino», asegura María Carrión, Directora ejecutiva. «FiSahara representa a un pueblo que no se rinde y que celebra su identidad y supervivencia a través del cine y de la cultura. Hoy queremos agradecer a las miles de personas y a las entidades solidarias que lo han hecho posible»..”

FiSahara Madrid echará a rodar el viernes 15 de diciembre en la Sala Mirador con una gala que celebrará su vigésimo cumpleaños junto con el mundo del cine y la cultura, que ha apoyado al festival de manera incondicional durante estas dos décadas. El acto rendirá homenaje a las defensoras de los derechos humanos saharauis que arriesgan sus vidas a diario en el Sáhara Occidental ocupado por Marruecos. Activistas de la talla de Aminetu Haidar (Nobel de Paz alternativo), Sultana Jaya (premio de DDHH APDHE), ElGhalia Djimi (Premio Pimentel Fonseca) o Mina Baali (co-autora de Que salga todo a la luz: Violaciones de los derechos humanos de las mujeres en el Sáhara Occidental ocupado) contarán sus historias sobre el escenario en torno a Jaimitna («Nuestra Jaima»), una jaima tejida con sus melfas que enarbola la resistencia del pueblo saharaui.

El 16 y 17 de diciembre FiSahara se trasladará al Cine Estudio del Círculo de Bellas Artes para ofrecer sesiones temáticas, con la proyección de más de media docena de películas acompañadas por coloquios.

La primera sesión del sábado, Jaimitna – Historias de mujeres en resistencia aborda la lucha en primera línea de las mujeres saharauis bajo ocupación marroquí con la proyección de Insumisas (Laura Dauden y Miguel Ángel Herrera) y Wangala (Samuel Nacar y Pau Coll) y un coloquio con las activistas saharauis mencionadas más arriba. La segunda sesión del sábado, Vidas cercadas: el futuro nunca llega, arroja la mirada sobre el muro que separa a la población saharaui refugiada de su tierra y las consecuencias de este exilio prolongado, con las películas Pequeño Sáhara (Emilio Martí), premiada en diversos festivales internacionales y realizada con la colaboración de niños saharauis, y El Fuego Escondido (Sergio Rodrigo), sobre el muro minado. Los directores de ambas películas participarán en el posterior coloquio junto al profesor de Derecho Público y Filosofía Jurídica en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Eduardo Melero y la activista saharaui Yaguta El-Mokhtar.

Crisis climática, greenwashing de Marruecos y hermanamiento con Palestina

La crisis climática afecta de manera desproporcionada al pueblo saharaui, y la primera sesión del domingo 17 de diciembre abordará la lucha de jóvenes saharauis en el plano internacional para que se escuchen sus voces y sus denuncias contra el greenwashing de la ocupación marroquí. Junto con la proyección de DESERT PHOSfate, del director y artista saharaui Mohamed Sleiman Labat, FiSahara Madrid ofrecerá un coloquio con Sleiman Labat y las activistas climáticas saharauis Asria Mohamed y Yaguta El-Mokhtar, ésta última recién llegada de la última Cumbre del Clima en Dubai (COP28) como representante del pueblo saharaui.

FiSahara Madrid cerrará su edición el domingo 17 estrechando sus lazos de solidaridad con el festival de cine y derechos humanos Red Carpet Gaza, que levantó su primera edición sobre los escombros de los bombardeos israelíes de 2014. En la sesión De Gaza a El Aaiún: Cine contra la Ocupación, ambos festivales hermanados proyectarán películas de temática saharaui y palestina: Soukeina, 4400 días de noche, de Laura Sipán, y Roof Knocking, de Sina Salimi.

A continuación tendrá lugar un conversatorio moderado por la periodista de Internacional de RNE Cristina Sánchez, especialista en países en conflicto, en el que participarán el artista palestino Marwán; la activista palestina Maryam del movimiento BDS (Boicot, Desinversiones y Sanciones contra Israel) y de la Plataforma Saguia el Hamra solidaria con el Sáhara Occidental (PSH); Abdulah Arabi, representante del Frente Polisario en España y María Carrión, directora ejecutiva de FiSahara y cofundadora de NomadsHRC.

«Ese lejano día en 2003, cuando por primera se encendieron los proyectores de FiSahara en el campamento de Smara, no imaginábamos que 20 años después llegaría tan lejos», asegura Abdulah Arabi, co-fundador de FiSahara. «En estas dos décadas de vida, FiSahara ha logrado convertirse en un festival reconocido internacionalmente que ha dado a conocer el cine sobre el Sáhara Occidental, premiado por la Academia de Cine, integrado en la red global de festivales de cine y DDHH que incluye más de 50 miembros, y con una escuela de cine en campamentos que produce películas que viajan a festivales por todo el mundo».

Jaimitna, algo más que una instalación artística

FiSahara Madrid estrenará Jaimitna (Nuestra Jaima), un proyecto de artivismo feminista, descolonizado y multimedia surgido de la colaboración entre FiSahara, el Comité Noruego de Apoyo al Sáhara Occidental y un colectivo de mujeres activistas saharauis, así como artistas, arquitectas, periodistas y cineastas. Jaimitna, que podrá disfrutarse tanto en la Sala Mirador como en el Cine Estudio del Círculo de Bellas Artes, es también un proyecto nómada, como el pueblo saharaui, consistente en una jaima tejida en su interior con las 19 melfas (vestido de mujer saharaui) de distintas defensoras de los derechos humanos en el Sáhara Occidental ocupado.

Cada una de las melfas, cosidas a mano por un colectivo de mujeres saharauis en los campamentos de población refugiada, tiene el nombre de una mujer y un código QR que conduce a la historia de su vida de resistencia pacífica bajo la ocupación. En el interior de la jaima, un símbolo de orgullo, resistencia y esperanza saharaui prohibido por el régimen marroquí desde 2011, el público encontrará un espacio íntimo y acogedor con alfombras, cojines y juguetes hechos con materiales reciclados utilizados por los niños y niñas en los campamentos.

La activista Asria Mohamed, una de las promotoras de esta iniciativa, explica que “la historia de la lucha de mi pueblo por la libertad no se ha contado ni mucho ni lo suficiente. Jaimitna cuenta la historia de lxs saharauis a través de dos elementos muy simbólicos en nuestra cultura: la jaima y la melfa”. Para Mohamed, “por un lado, Jaimitna honra y pone la atención en la lucha y sacrificio de estas 19 defensoras de los derechos humanos, al tiempo que lxs visitantes tienen la oportunidad de experimentar la belleza y singularidad de la cultura saharaui”.

En sus 20 años, FiSahara ha acogido a miles de visitantes incluyendo cineastas, artistas, escritorxs, periodistas y activistas por los derechos humanos que han expresado su solidaridad con el pueblo saharaui. «Nuestro sueño como festival no solo consiste en resistir otros 20 años, sino poder celebrar FiSahara pronto sobre las dunas de una playa en el Sáhara Occidental descolonizado y libre», concluyó Carrión.

 


FiSahara Presents Online Catalogue of Western Sahara Films

FiSahara Presents Online Catalogue of Western Sahara Films

FiSahara (the Western Sahara International Film Festival), an annual festival celebrated in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, today announced the release of an online catalogue made up of over 200 films about Western Sahara, making it the most extensive online film database focusing on the Morocco-occupied territory, known as Africa’s last colony. With around 230 productions spanning five decades, the catalogue, available in English and Spanish, was put together by Nomads HRC, a Madrid-based NGO that supports FiSahara’s international activities and that has organized scores of film screenings in the Sahrawi refugee camps and in festivals and other events all over the world.

The films are made by international filmmakers, journalists, activists, students, solidarity organizations and, more recently, by Sahrawis themselves as they pioneer a new art: Sahrawi cinematography. They span across genres, categories, nationalities and languages. Collectively, this body of work provides a unique audiovisual narrative of the recent history of Western Sahara and its indigenous people, including the end of the Spanish colonial era, the Moroccan military invasion and the exodus by half of Western Sahara’s population to refugee camps in Algeria, the 16-year war between the Moroccan military and the Sahrawi liberation movement called the Polisario Front, life in exile and under occupation and the current reality and struggle of the Sahrawi people for the decolonization of their homeland.

In addition to addressing these broad themes, some films are deeply intimate narratives about what life is like for a young Sahrawi refugee, or the painful memories of a formerly disappeared political prisoner.

The database, which includes trailers, synopsis, technical specs, posters, contact information and links to the films when available, allows users to conduct searches by themes, countries of production, years, language and subtitles. The catalogue acts both as a window into the history and present of cinema on Western Sahara and as an effective tool for anyone seeking to use film on Western Sahara for artistic, educational, research, media, advocacy or other purposes.

Not long ago film did not exist in Western Sahara: our people are nomads, our culture is primarily oral and our story was rarely told by international filmmakers”, said FiSahara Director Tiba Chagaf.In a short span of time, as FiSahara attracted more filmmakers and the Abidin Kaid Saleh Audiovisual School in the camps created the first generation of Sahrawi filmmakers, film has been embraced by my people and become one of the most effective tools to tell our stories. Finding this body of work in one place for the first time now gives us a better understanding of the diversity and reach of films on Western Sahara.”

A Rich, Collaborative Project in Constant Evolution

As more Western Sahara-themed films are released and older works re-surface, FiSahara and Nomads HRC’s team is inviting the public to contribute to the project, which has been in the works for a decade. “This database would not have been possible without the collaboration of filmmakers, activists and many others who have facilitated information to us”, said database co-creator Mayka Guerao, one of the founders of Nomads HRC along with Sara Pujalte and María Carrión. “We invite the public to contact us if they know of films not included in the catalogue, or if they see any errors”.

 Carrión, who is also FiSahara Executive Director, hopes that the catalogue “facilitates the work of film festival programmers, activists, educators and others wanting to screen films on Western Sahara. Screening a film on this forgotten conflict and its tragic consequences on an entire people is one of the most effective ways of raising awareness and breaking the international silence that has surrounded the Sahrawis for almost half a century“. The catalogue’s rich diversity means that “it caters to many different audiences so that an elementary school teacher, a human rights researcher, a community activist or a festival programmer will all find films that adapt to their needs”.

Madrid-based Nomads HRC, whose mission is to support Sahrawi-led cultural, human rights and media projects, has released the catalogue to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the NGO’s founding.  “It is our humble gift to the Sahrawi people in return for the honor of walking with them side by side, ” said co-founder Sara Pujalte.


FiSahara and the Film School receive the 2022 González Sinde Award

FiSahara and the Film School receive the 2022 González Sinde Award

FiSahara and the Abidin Kaid Saleh Audiovisual Training School (EFA) received yesterday the González Sinde Award 2022, awarded by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain. Tiba Chagaf, director of FiSahara and the Film School, María Carrión, executive director of the festival, were in charge of receiving the award from the son of the first president of the Academy, José María González Sinde.

With this award, the Academy recognizes FiSahara “for its extensive and hard-working career making visible, training and entertaining the Sahrawi population through its film, culture and human rights festival, and its dedication to education with its audiovisual training school Abidin Kaid Saleh.” In his speech thanking him for the award, Chagaf also transferred his gratitude “to everyone who had to do with that madness that began a long time ago”, in relation to FiSahara.

“On behalf of the Sahrawi refugees, we are enormously grateful and proud of all those men and women who dedicate themselves to the seventh art and show us every day that men who play fictitious roles go out on a limb most than those who play real roles, said Chagaf, who warned that “we will never give up.”

Carrión, for his part, affirmed that “this festival has survived for almost two decades and will continue to survive because it walks firmly towards freedom in very good company.” The executive director took the opportunity to thank Spanish cinema for its support, “because without it, FiSahara would not have been possible, which was born from a dream shared between the Saharawi people, the world of Spanish cinema and the world of solidarity with the Sahrawi people.

Undelivered bikes

The president of the Academy, Fernando Méndez-Leite, was in charge of conducting an act in which the actress Melani Olivares and the producer Álvaro Longoria dedicated some emotional words to the festival. After the projection of a video in which other figures of Spanish cinema such as Malena Alterio, Carlos Bardem or Juan Diego Botto congratulated the festival and the school, José María González Sinde presented the award.

It was then that a particularly endearing moment occurred, when González Sinde remembered how in his youth, when he worked on the filming sets, he met a security guard named Abidin. Over time they became friends and the guard began collecting used bicycles to send to the refugee camps. González Sinde helped him in this initiative, although he admitted that it was not without a certain shame because of the state of some of the bicycles that he delivered to Abidin, to whom everything he could send to the camps seemed fine.

That Abidin was Abidin Kaid Saleh, the Sahrawi war reporter who was a pioneer in filming movies and who gives his name to the Film School. After his war injury and after having laid the foundations of what would become the SADR Ministry of Information years later, Abidin moved to Spain, where he would die of cancer in 2003, without having obtained Spanish nationality despite having with Spanish ID since 1971.

When González Sinde met Abidin, neither of them could have imagined that years later a Film School would bear his name and it would have already trained Saharawi directors and directors whose productions are screened all over the world. González Sinde changed jobs, lost contact with Abidin and could not hand-deliver those bicycles: “Now it is worth giving this award,” she said at the ceremony, “to compensate for that.” And the audience broke into applause.


Wanibik, by the Algerian Rabah Slimani, wins the White Camel at the 17 edition of FiSahara

Wanibik, by the Algerian Rabah Slimani, wins the White Camel at the 17 edition of FiSahara

Wanibik, the people who live in front of their land, by the Algerian director Rabah Slimani, has been the winning film of the White Camel (symbol of peace for the Saharawi people) in the XVII edition of FiSahara (Western Sahara International Film Festival). The film, shot in the Saharawi refugee population camps, tells the story of a group of students from a film school who, for their final year project, decide to shoot on the Wall of Shame erected and mined by Morocco, in the middle of the current war that is being waged after the breaking of the ceasefire by the Alawite regime in November 2020.

The school that appears in the film is the Abidin Kaid Saleh Film School, created by FiSahara in 2011 in the camp of boulder,Special Award at the San Sebastian Film and Human Rights Festival and recent winner of the González Sinde Award 2022 awarded by the Spanish Film Academy.

Slimani, who refused to premiere his film until the premiere at FiSahara had taken place, said “participating is very special for me and for my team, because FiSahara is the festival of truth and the truth is very important in this type of events and in the cinema. The Algerian director, who describes Wanibik as “a film by the Sahrawis for the Sahrawis”, highlighted that “the first great prize was to project the film on the FiSahara Desert Screen because the smiles of the Sahrawi public in the refugee camps made me feel very proud when I saw them. That is the best award for me.”

For its part, Burkinabè Rising: the art of resistance in Burkina Faso, by the Brazilian-Korean director Iara Lee, won the second prize. The founder and coordinator of the Festival of Cinema and Human Rights and Freedom of Expression La Droit Libre, Abdoulaye Diallo, was in charge of collecting the award. Finally, the film The Nomad Garden, by the Sahrawi director Mohamed Salem Mohamed Ali, received the third of the festival’s awards. The film tells the story of how a young Sahrawi refugee grows vegetables in one of the most inhospitable places in the world, facing water scarcity, extreme temperatures and barren land.

The gala had the participation of the actress Itziar Ituño and the actor Guillermo Toledo as masters of ceremonies. Diallo, the Afro-Colombian social communicator Emiliana Bernard and the filmmaker and journalist Dorothée Myriam Kellou read a statement prepared by them, in which they expressed their gratitude to FiSahara and the Saharawi people, joining “as new ambassadors in the fight for rights, dignity and the reunification of Western Sahara”.

Amaral closed the gala with an acoustic concert in which the Saharawi percussionist Backa Ambark del grupo Alwali joined to perform some of the songs. The group from Zaragoza, which had already pointed out that “we come with the idea that our music is a vehicle to contribute to draw attention to the situation of the Sahrawi people”,stressed that “it is very enriching to see how the Sahrawi people use their culture as an instrument of identity and struggle. For us it is a shock to find ourselves in this tremendously unfair situation and to see the dignity with which they face this situation and this struggle”.

FiSahara is here to stay

During the six days of the festival, the event has developed a multitude of activities (round tables, workshops, journalism master class in Occupied Territories, concert in the dunes, visit to the Film School…), as well as Le Frig, a space for tents traditional Sahrawis in which the different wilayas (camps) compete in different categories. The winners were headed in the national Exemplary Tent competition by the wilaya of Ausserd, followed by those of Smara, El Aaiún, Bojador and Dajla. Likewise, in the local competition, the winning daira (neighborhood) was Mijik, ahead of those from Birganduz; Lguera and Zug, who tied, Aguinit and Tichla.

Tiba Chagaf, director of FiSahara and the Abidin Kaid Saleh Film School, pointed out that “once again, defying all natural, supernatural and human forces, a FiSahara is being made again, which is becoming more consolidated, with a more coordinated and synchronized team to put cinema at the service of a cause that needs be told. Along the same lines, María Carrión, executive director of FiSahara, pointed out that “this edition comes to an end with the bar higher than ever, not only for having managed to resist during these years, but also because it has done so by strengthening itself“.

With the slogan #Decolonize and the screening of films about Palestine, Algeria, Burkina Faso or Western Sahara, “the cinema event in the dunes has generated a twinning between peoples who have suffered and continue to suffer the ravages of colonialism,” added Carrión. From Chagaf’s point of view, “the peculiarity of this edition has been that connection that we have made with three continents at the same time projecting the same film, feeling the same emotions while being so far apart and so united at the same time.”

The director refers to the world premiere that took place during FiSahara of Little Sahara, the short film by director Emilio Martí, which received a Special Mention from the Jury. Despite the technical difficulties, the connection was made simultaneously with FiSahara, the solidarity festival Help me Please of Granada and the Festival Voices from Western Sahara which took place in Xalapa and Mexico City (Mexico).

Cinema becomes strong locally, with young Sahrawis using the seventh art to rescue ancestral customs, but at the same time it has more international capacity”, Carrión stresses. “The FiSahara is here to stay,” concluded Chagaf.


FiSahara celebra su 2ª edición en Madrid

FiSahara celebra su 2ª edición en Madrid

Tras la reciente celebración de su XVI edición en los campamentos del Sáhara, el festival de cine y DDHH llega al Círculo de Bellas Artes del 17 al 19 de diciembre  

FISAHARA celebra su 2ª edición en MADRID homenajeando a la actriz Pilar Bardem

Apenas dos semanas después de la clausura de la XVI edición de FiSahara (Festival Internacional de Cine del Sáhara) en los campamentos de población refugiada saharaui tras dos años de ausencia por la pandemia, la Pantalla del Desierto tendrá su eco en el corazón de Madrid con la 2ª Edición de FiSahara Madrid, que se celebrará del 17 al 19 de diciembre en el Cine Estudio del Círculo de Bellas Artes. Esta edición se realizará en memoria de la actriz Pilar Bardem, muy querida por el pueblo saharaui y gran defensora de la causa desde el inicio del conflicto en el Sáhara Occidental.

FiSahara Madrid toma el relevo del FiSahara celebrado en Ausserd con su lema #RompamosElSilencio, acercando el Sáhara Occidental a públicos internacionales en un momento crítico en el que la reanudación del conflicto armado en el Sáhara cumple un año, la población saharaui en el Sáhara ocupado por Marruecos sufre una ola de brutal represión y se libra otra guerra, ésta por los recursos naturales saharauis, en el Tribunal de Justicia Europeo.

“Pilar significó mucho para nuestro pueblo, estuvo a nuestro lado desde que Marruecos invadió nuestra tierra y siempre alzó su voz por la justicia, señalando sobre todo al gobierno de España como responsable de nuestra tragedia”, asegura Tiba Chagaf, director Nacional de Cine y Teatro del Ministerio de Cultura de la RASD. “Por eso queremos recordarle y darle las gracias en su ciudad, Madrid, y agradecer a su familia haber estado también a nuestro lado. Es la segunda vez que traemos el festival a Madrid y lo hacemos, además, tras el éxito de la XVI edición de FiSahara en campamentos, lo que nos llena de orgullo e ilusión para seguir llevando nuestra causa por todo el mundo a través del cine y la cultura”.

La programación de esta edición “es cañera, ágil, impactante, porque es urgente que despertemos ante un conflicto que también es nuestro, es necesario que sepamos que nuestro país exporta armas a Marruecos y que en nuestros platos hay pescado y tomates robados al pueblo saharaui, y es imprescindible que aprendamos qué podemos hacer para no ser cómplices de esta enorme injusticia”, según María Carrión, directora ejecutiva de FiSahara. “Queremos que el público esté al borde de su asiento tanto durante las proyecciones como en los coloquios, y que se levante habiendo descubierto cómo un pequeño pueblo como el saharaui sigue sacando de su baúl herramientas creativas y sorprendentes para defenderse contra Goliath, que es Marruecos”.

El evento conjuga el cine y la fotografía — a la entrada el público podrá disfrutar de la exposición fotográfica de la Plataforma Saguia El Hamra — con la participación de expertxs, artistas y activistas que en diferentes mesas redondas ofrecerán las claves de la resistencia saharaui en escenarios tan diversos como la cultura, la economía global, los tribunales internacionales o el rescate de la memoria histórica.

Expolio, minas antipersona y cine 100% saharaui

FiSahara Madrid echará a andar el 17 de diciembre con una velada dedicada al expolio de los recursos naturales en el Sáhara Occidental, un tema de rabiosa actualidad tras la reciente anulación por parte del Tribunal de Justicia Europeo de los acuerdos comerciales entre la UE y Marruecos por incluir recursos naturales en Sáhara ocupado por Marruecos. Una serie de cortometrajes ilustrará el impacto del expolio: Ocupación SA nombra a empresas españolas que lo realizan, Delivery se centra en los esfuerzos de dos activistas por llegar hasta el CEO de otra empresa expoliadora y Sólo son peces, candidata a Mejor Cortometraje Documental en la edición de los Goya de 2021, muestra el impacto de la ocupación y el expolio para la población refugiada saharaui que vive de la ayuda humanitaria.

Y para conocer la realidad de saharauis bajo ocupación que luchan contra el expolio se estrenará el corto documental Sultana Libre, producido por el colectivo saharaui Equipe Media, que relata un año de arresto domiciliario y brutal represión por parte de agentes marroquíes que sufre la conocida defensora de DDHH Sultana Jaya, con imágenes grabadas por la propia activista desde su casa de Bojador. El arresto de Jaya, que ha sido denunciado por numerosas organizaciones internacionales de DDHH y por la ONU, se debe a su militancia a favor de la autodeterminación pero también por su lucha contra el expolio.

Tras las proyecciones y durante el coloquio “¿Estamos comiendo pescado saharaui robado? Del mar a nuestro plato: radiografía del expolio”, el público podrá interactuar con activistas y expertxs en primera línea de la lucha contra el saqueo de recursos naturales del Sáhara como Erik Hagen (Western Sahara Resource Watch), Juan Soroeta (Profesor Titular de Derecho Internacional Público y Relaciones Internacionales en la UPV/EHU) o Abdulah Arabi, representante del Frente Polisario en España.

La segunda jornada (18 Dic), dedicada al Cine y Artivismo Saharaui, proyectará la película, Mutha y la muerte de Hamma-Fuku, cortometraje preseleccionado este año para los Premios Goya 2022 que narra la historia de una joven saharaui que se juega la vida para desminar el muro de separación marroquí que parte el Sáhara Occidental en dos, donde Marruecos ha sembrado más de siete millones de minas antipersona — y actual escenario del conflicto armado.

Y directamente de la Pantalla del Desierto de Ausserd llegarán los cortos saharauis de cineastas de la Escuela de Formación Audiovisual (EFA) Abidin Kaid Saleh, creada por FiSahara en 2011 en el campamento de Bojador: Toufa (1er Premio en la última XVI edición de FiSahara), En busca de Tirfas y El Precio de la Belleza (ambas 2º Premio ex-aequo en XVI FiSahara), con historias sobre el exilio, el desempleo juvenil y los cánones de belleza. Cerrará ese día la video-semblanza realizada por el colectivo Saharawi Voice de Tiba Chagaf, director de la EFA Abidin Kaid Saleh, que participará en el coloquio “La revolución del cine saharaui” junto a Mutha Hamma Feccu, protagonista de Mutha; Salma Mustafa, guionista del El Precio de la Belleza; Lafdal Mohamed Salem, director de En busca de Tirfas y estudiante en el Instituto del Cine Madrid (ICM) y Nadhira Mohamed Buhoy, protagonista de Wilaya (Pedro Pérez Rosado) y estudiante en el ICM.

Premios Goya 2022 y homenaje a Pilar Bardem

Los Premios Goya 2022 también estarán presentes en FiSahara Madrid con la proyección el sábado de la cinta de Arturo Dueñas, Dajla: Cine y Olvido, seleccionada por la Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas para competir como Mejor Cortometraje Documental esta próxima edición. La película muestra la rutina que se vive en el campamento de población refugiada de Dajla y cómo ésta se rompe con la llegada de FiSahara para, concluida su celebración, volver a caer en el olvido por parte de la Comunidad Internacional.

Ese mismo sábado 18 de diciembre FiSahara Madrid rendirá un sentido homenaje a la actriz Pilar Bardem, fallecida el pasado mes de julio. La actriz y expresidenta de Aisge siempre estuvo comprometida con la causa saharaui, convirtiéndose en una de las voces más poderosas a favor de la libertad y los DDHH en el Sáhara Occidental.

FiSahara Madrid pondrá su broche final el domingo 19 de diciembre con la premier de Un viaje hacia nosotros, película de Luis Cintora protagonizada por Pepe Viyuela quien, siguiendo los pasos de su abuelo republicano, refugiado en Francia tras la Guerra Civil, conecta esa historia con la del pueblo saharaui, refugiado en los campamentos de Argelia. Le seguirá el coloquio “La memoria y el presente, cuestión de identidad”, en el que participarán Pepe Viyuela y Tiba Chagaf, con la periodista Ebbaba Hameida como moderadora.

La venta de entradas para FiSahara Madrid (3€ euros por sesión) ya está disponible en la página web del Círculo de Bellas Artes.


Time is passing by

CSS selectors all exist within the same global scope. Anyone who has worked with CSS long enough has had to come to terms with its aggressively global nature — a model clearly designed in the age of documents, now struggling to offer a sane working environment for today’s modern web applications. Every selector has the potential to have unintended side effects by targeting unwanted elements or clashing with other selectors. More surprisingly, our selectors may even lose out in the global specificity war, ultimately having little or no effect on the page at all.

Any time we make a change to a CSS file, we need to carefully consider the global environment in which our styles will sit. No other front end technology requires so much discipline just to keep the code at a minimum level of maintainability. But it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s time to leave the era of global style sheets behind.

It’s time for local CSS.

In other languages, it’s accepted that modifying the global environment is something to be done rarely, if ever.

In the JavaScript community, thanks to tools like Browserify, Webpack and JSPM, it’s now expected that our code will consist of small modules, each encapsulating their explicit dependencies, exporting a minimal API.

Yet, somehow, CSS still seems to be getting a free pass.

Many of us — myself included, until recently — have been working with CSS so long that we don’t see the lack of local scope as a problem that we can solve without significant help from browser vendors. Even then, we’d still need to wait for the majority of our users to be using a browser with proper Shadow DOM support.

We’ve worked around the issues of global scope with a series of naming conventions like OOCSS, SMACSS, BEM and SUIT, each providing a way for us to avoid naming collisions and emulate sane scoping rules.

We no longer need to add lengthy prefixes to all of our selectors to simulate scoping. More components could define their own foo and bar identifiers which — unlike the traditional global selector model—wouldn’t produce any naming collisions.

import styles from './MyComponent.css';
import React, { Component } from 'react';
export default class MyComponent extends Component {
 render() {
    return (
      <div>
        <div className={styles.foo}>Foo</div>
        <div className={styles.bar}>Bar</div>
      </div>
    );
  }

The benefits of global CSS — style re-use between components via utility classes, etc. — are still achievable with this model. The key difference is that, just like when we work in other technologies, we need to explicitly import the classes that we depend on. Our code can’t make many, if any, assumptions about the global environment.

Writing maintainable CSS is now encouraged, not by careful adherence to a naming convention, but by style encapsulation during development.

Once you’ve tried working with local CSS, there’s really no going back. Experiencing true local scope in our style sheets — in a way that works across all browsers— is not something to be easily ignored.

Introducing local scope has had a significant ripple effect on how we approach our CSS. Naming conventions, patterns of re-use, and the potential extraction of styles into separate packages are all directly affected by this shift, and we’re only at the beginning of this new era of local CSS.

process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development' ?
    '[name]__[local]___[hash:base64:5]' :
    '[hash:base64:5]'
)

Understanding the ramifications of this shift is something that we’re still working through. With your valuable input and experimentation, I’m hoping that this is a conversation we can have together as a larger community.

Note: Automatically optimising style re-use between components would be an amazing step forward, but it definitely requires help from people a lot smarter than me.


PIONEERS OF CINEMA

Just the other day I happened to wake up early. That is unusual for an engineering student. After a long time I could witness the sunrise. I could feel the sun rays falling on my body. Usual morning is followed by hustle to make it to college on time. This morning was just another morning yet seemed different.

Witnessing calm and quiet atmosphere, clear and fresh air seemed like a miracle to me. I wanted this time to last longer since I was not sure if I would be able to witness it again, knowing my habit of succumbing to schedule. There was this unusual serenity that comforted my mind. It dawned on me, how distant I had been from nature. Standing near the compound’s gate, feeling the moistness that the air carried, I thought about my life so far.

I was good at academics, so decisions of my life had been pretty simple and straight. Being pretty confident I would make it to the best junior college of my town in the first round itself, never made me consider any other option. I loved psychology since childhood, but engineering was the safest option. Being born in a middle class family, thinking of risking your career to make it to medical field was not sane. I grew up hearing ‘Only doctor’s children can afford that field’ and finally ended up believing it. No one around me believed in taking risks. Everyone worshiped security. I grew up doing the same.

‘Being in the top will only grant you a good life’ has been the mantra of my life. But at times, I wish I was an average student. I wish decisions would have not been so straightforward. Maybe I would have played cricket- the only thing I feel passionate about. Or maybe I would have studied literature (literature drives me crazy). Isn’t that disappointing- me wishing to be bad at academics. It’s like at times I hate myself for the stuff I am good at.

This is what has happened to us. We want the things we have been doing forcefully to fail. And then maybe people around us would let us try something else or our dreams. We are accustomed to live by everyone else’s definition of success. We punish people for the things they are passionate about, just because we were unable to do the same at some point in our life.

I feel like these concrete buildings have sucked our desires and our dreams. We are so used to comfort that compromise seems like a taboo. We have lost faith in ourselves. If we can make through it right now, we can do the same in the days to come. You only need a desire to survive and nothing more- not money or cars or designer clothes.

Staying locked up in four walls have restricted our thinking. I feel like our limited thinking echoes through this wall. We are so used to schedules and predictable life that we have successfully suppressed our creative side.

When you step out of these four walls on a peaceful morning, you realize how much nature has to offer to you. Its boundless. Your thoughts, worries, deadlines won’t resonate here. Everything will flow away along with the wind. And you will realize every answer you had been looking for, was always known to you.

It would mean a lot to me if you recommend this article and help me improve. I would love to know your thoughts!


CINEMA AND EDUCATION

01. Wake up at the same time every day.

Naturally, my first impression of these headphones is based off of the look of them. They have a classic over-the-ear style that is highlighted by a blue LED light that indicates the power for the noise canceling. The padding on the ear pieces seems adequate for extended usage periods.

They are wired headphones, but the 3.5mm stereo mini-plug cable is detachable. Something else I noticed right of the bat was the very nice carrying case that comes with them. It has a hard plastic exterior with a soft cloth interior that helps to protect the surface of the headphones from scratches. I never truly appreciated cases for headphones until I started carrying them from place-to-place. Now I can’t imagine not having a case.

It’s funny — the thing I feared would take away my “freedom” is the one thing that has allowed me to have it.

Joelle Steiniger

02. Have a routine when you wake up.

Once I gave the headphones a thorough once-over exam, I tried them on. As I mentioned, they have a classic over-the-ear style and just looking at them, the padding on the ear pieces seem adequate and the peak of the headband seemed to be a bit lacking, but you don’t really know comfort unless you try on the product. So, I slipped the headphones on and found them to be exquisitely comfortable. In order to test how voices sounded, and the overall art of sound mixing, I pulled up Netflix on my iPad Air 2 and watched a few minutes of a movie to hear all the nuances of the film. None of them were lost. In fact, I ended up hearing sounds that I hadn’t heard before. Echoes…birds chirping…wind blowing through trees…breathing of the characters…it was very impressive what the headphones ended up bringing out for me.

I’d start my day by checking email, Twitter, Facebook. Reading the “news”. I’d look at my to-do list and start working on something.

03. Plan your workout time — stick to it.

Now that I had the headphones on my head, I was finally ready to plug and play some music. I plugged the provided cable into the jack on the headphones and then the one on my iPhone 6. Then I called up Pandora. I tend to have a very eclectic music purview and have many stations set up for different moods. From John Williams to Fallout Boy, the sound quality of these headphones was remarkable. There is an amazing depth of sound and incredible highs and lows that make listening to music a truly breathtaking experience.

In order to test how voices sounded, and the overall art of sound mixing, I pulled up Netflix on my iPad Air 2 and watched a few minutes of a movie to hear all the nuances of the film. None of them were lost. In fact, I ended up hearing sounds that I hadn’t heard before. Echoes…birds chirping…wind blowing through trees…breathing of the characters…it was very impressive what the headphones ended up bringing out for me.

Distractions aside, there was no real rhyme or reason to my workflow. The not-so-fun (but necessary) stuff kept getting neglected.

04. Call it a night.

Now that I had the headphones on my head, I was finally ready to plug and play some music. I plugged the provided cable into the jack on the headphones and then the one on my iPhone 6. Then I called up Pandora. I tend to have a very eclectic music purview and have many stations set up for different moods. From John Williams to Fallout Boy, the sound quality of these headphones was remarkable. There is an amazing depth of sound and incredible highs and lows that make listening to music a truly breathtaking experience.

In order to test how voices sounded, and the overall art of sound mixing, I pulled up Netflix on my iPad Air 2 and watched a few minutes of a movie to hear all the nuances of the film. None of them were lost. In fact, I ended up hearing sounds that I hadn’t heard before. Echoes…birds chirping…wind blowing through trees…breathing of the characters…it was very impressive what the headphones ended up bringing out for me.


WWS

Once I gave the headphones a thorough once-over exam, I tried them on. As I mentioned, they have a classic over-the-ear style and just looking at them, the padding on the ear pieces seem adequate and the peak of the headband seemed to be a bit lacking, but you don’t really know comfort unless you try on the product. So, I slipped the headphones on and found them to be exquisitely comfortable. Once I gave the headphones a thorough once-over exam, I tried them on. As I mentioned, they have a classic over-the-ear style and just looking at them, the padding on the ear pieces seem adequate and the peak of the headband seemed to be a bit lacking, but you don’t really know comfort unless you try on the product. So, I slipped the headphones on and found them to be exquisitely comfortable.

If no one hates you, no one is paying attention. If attention is what you want for vanity, confidence, or, hell — to make a decent living — then know that it’s not instantaneous. Every single person that you’re currently paying attention to, at some point in their lives, was in your exact position.

You need to be
true to yourself

Just like every other human on the planet, I have epically awesome days and days when life just turne against me. And while I can’t stand most self-help (see: tired quotes over stock photography on Instagram), sometimes I need a little pick-me-up. And most of the time, in order to get out of a slump (because my brain leans more into math/science than anything else), I need to drop a logic bomb on my ass.

Yes, this is a long article. But here’s the thing — if you’re reading this in your inbox and are already like, “fuck this!” delete it. No hard feelings. If you’re reading this in a browser on a website, and you see how tiny the scroll-bar is because of how far you still have to scroll to get to the bottom, close this tab and go back to 140-character tidbits of advice. Still with me? Phew. Just had to weed out all the folks from points: #1, #4 and #8. Welcome friends, onward we go.

Remember to
never give up

If no one hates you, no one is paying attention. If attention is what you want for vanity, confidence, or, hell — to make a decent living — then know that it’s not instantaneous. Every single person that you’re currently paying attention to, at some point in their lives, was in your exact position. They kept at it and worked enough so that others started listening. Also know that if no one is watching, you can experience true freedom. Dance in your underwear. Write entirely for yourself. Like there’s a going-out-of-business sale. Find yourself — not in some coming-of-age hippie way involving pasta and ashrams— but in a way that helps you draw your own line in the sand for what matters and what doesn’t. Do what you want to do, just because you want to do that thing. This will build confidence that will come in handy later.

Once I gave the headphones a thorough once-over exam, I tried them on. As I mentioned, they have a classic over-the-ear style and just looking at them, the padding on the ear pieces seem adequate and the peak of the headband seemed to be a bit lacking, but you don’t really know comfort unless you try on the product. So, I slipped the headphones on and found them to be exquisitely comfortable. Once I gave the headphones a thorough once-over exam, I tried them on. As I mentioned, they have a classic over-the-ear style and just looking at them, the padding on the ear pieces seem adequate and the peak of the headband seemed to be a bit lacking, but you don’t really know comfort unless you try on the product. So, I slipped the headphones on and found them to be exquisitely comfortable.

If no one hates you, no one is paying attention. If attention is what you want for vanity, confidence, or, hell — to make a decent living — then know that it’s not instantaneous. Every single person that you’re currently paying attention to, at some point in their lives, was in your exact position. They kept at it and worked enough so that others started listening. Also know that if no one is watching, you can experience true freedom. Dance in your underwear. Write entirely for yourself. Like there’s a going-out-of-business sale. Find yourself — not in some coming-of-age hippie way involving pasta and ashrams— but in a way that helps you draw your own line in the sand for what matters and what doesn’t. Do what you want to do, just because you want to do that thing. This will build confidence that will come in handy later.


FISAHARA

First impressions.

Many years ago, I worked for my parents who own a video production company. Because it is a family business, you inevitably end up wearing many hats and being the czar of many different jobs. I mainly managed projects and worked as a video editor. On production, there were times that I was called on to work as an audio tech and was made to wear headphones on long production days. In those days, having a really good set of headphones that picked up every nuance of sound was essential to making sure the client got what they needed. Many years ago, I worked for my parents who own a video production company. Because it is a family business, you inevitably end up wearing many hats and being the czar of many different jobs. I mainly managed projects and worked as a video editor. On production, there were times that I was called on to work as an audio tech and was made to wear headphones on long production days. In those days, having a really good set of headphones that picked up every nuance of sound was essential to making sure the client got what they needed.

Naturally, my first impression of these headphones is based off of the look of them. They have a classic over-the-ear style that is highlighted by a blue LED light that indicates the power for the noise canceling. The padding on the ear pieces seems adequate for extended usage periods.

They are wired headphones, but the 3.5mm stereo mini-plug cable is detachable. Something else I noticed right of the bat was the very nice carrying case that comes with them. It has a hard plastic exterior with a soft cloth interior that helps to protect the surface of the headphones from scratches. I never truly appreciated cases for headphones until I started carrying them from place-to-place. Now I can’t imagine not having a case.

It’s safe to say that because of my unique professional experiences, I’ve tested out a lot of headphones.

John Williams

A perfect fit.

Once I gave the headphones a thorough once-over exam, I tried them on. As I mentioned, they have a classic over-the-ear style and just looking at them, the padding on the ear pieces seem adequate and the peak of the headband seemed to be a bit lacking, but you don’t really know comfort unless you try on the product. So, I slipped the headphones on and found them to be exquisitely comfortable. In order to test how voices sounded, and the overall art of sound mixing, I pulled up Netflix on my iPad Air 2 and watched a few minutes of a movie to hear all the nuances of the film. None of them were lost. In fact, I ended up hearing sounds that I hadn’t heard before. Echoes…birds chirping…wind blowing through trees…breathing of the characters…it was very impressive what the headphones ended up bringing out for me.

Quality.

Now that I had the headphones on my head, I was finally ready to plug and play some music. I plugged the provided cable into the jack on the headphones and then the one on my iPhone 6. Then I called up Pandora. I tend to have a very eclectic music purview and have many stations set up for different moods. From John Williams to Fallout Boy, the sound quality of these headphones was remarkable. There is an amazing depth of sound and incredible highs and lows that make listening to music a truly breathtaking experience.

In order to test how voices sounded, and the overall art of sound mixing, I pulled up Netflix on my iPad Air 2 and watched a few minutes of a movie to hear all the nuances of the film. None of them were lost. In fact, I ended up hearing sounds that I hadn’t heard before. Echoes…birds chirping…wind blowing through trees…breathing of the characters…it was very impressive what the headphones ended up bringing out for me.