by Emilio Martí López, Spain, 2024, 30' - out of competition
Pequeno Sahara tells the story of Western Sahara, the last European colony in Africa, as seen from the point of view of refugee children participating in an animation and film workshop.
An elegant documentary that brings an unfortunately little-known topic to light in an engaging and creative way.
Emilio Martí-López (Valencia, 1978) is a filmmaker and art therapist who experiments with animation to promote social change. Much of his work addresses social issues, such as internalized phobia toward LGBT people (Unanimated, 2011) or the right to asylum (MARHABA, 2016), made during a workshop with refugee children. In MAKUN (2019), he animates drawings found on the walls of an Immigrant Detention Center in Spain to denounce the improper detention to which the EU subjects people who have committed no crime.
Film Trailer: