Algiers, December 4, 2011 (SPS) - The documentary film “Territoire perdu (Lost Land)” on Western Sahara conflict by the Belgian writer and director, Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd, screened Friday at Cinematic Hall in Algiers, according to a source of the Algerian Ministry of Culture.
The one and half hour film tells the story and suffering experienced by the Saharawi people since 1975.
Territoire perdu’s director chooses Algeria to host the premiere screening in North Africa and the Arab World as a whole. It is considered the first European film to focus on the Saharawi cause and to address it for discussion within the European media circle. It had been also screened at Berlin Festival.
Vandeweerd fills his soundtrack with wind noises, radio extracts, rhythmic susurrations and the lowing of camels, the desert conveyances providing him with a baldly metaphorical closing shot as they express their displeasure at being enclosed in a makeshift pen.
The film-maker preferred to use the white and black technique in filming the scenes, taking from the liberated territories while Morocco prevents to photograph the occupied part of the Territory.
The film presents a symbolic and attractive read through a set of stances, including letters. The Director of Lost Land chose to portray the faces of the Sahrawi divided between white and black color, to be like Western Sahara. (SPS)
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