Christopher Nolan faces backlash for filming The Odyssey in disputed Western Sahara

India Today

29-07-2025

Director Christopher Nolan has drawn criticism for filming certain portions of his upcoming epic-drama 'The Odyssey' in the Western Sahara. He has sparked controversy as 70% of the region is occupied by Morocco.Nolan has shot the movie in the city of Dakhla, which has been deemed the capital of the Moroccan administrative region of Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab, as reported by Variety. Western Sahara is considered a disputed territory which has been classified as "non-self-governing" by the United Nations. The 'The Odyssey' director has come under scrutiny since the region is home to the Indigenous Sahrawi people. Western Sahara is the last remaining African colonial state to achieve independence, with Morocco still claiming control over the majority of its land.advertisementAccording to the Variety report, the Western Sahara International Film Festival (aka FiSahara) — which takes place in Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria — put out a statement urging Nolan to halt production in the region. The festival's statement read, "Dakhla is not just a beautiful place with cinematic sand dunes. First and foremost, it is an occupied and militarised city whose Indigenous Sahrawi population is subjected to brutal repression by the Moroccan occupation forces."
The statement further stated that the production should, "stop filming in Dakhla and stand in solidarity with the Sahrawi people who have been under military occupation for 50 years and who are routinely imprisoned and tortured for their peaceful struggle for self-determination."The festival director, Mara Carrin, further said, "By filming part of 'The Odyssey' in an occupied territory classified as a 'journalistic desert' by Reporters Without Borders, Nolan and his team, perhaps unwittingly, are contributing to Morocco's repression of the Sahrawi people and to the Moroccan regime's efforts to normalise its occupation of Western Sahara. 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."Actor Javier Bardem, who had appeared at FiSahara in the past, posted the festival's statement on his Instagram handle. His caption read, "For 50 years, Morocco has occupied Western Sahara, expelling the Sahrawi people from their cities. Dakhla is one of them, converted by the Moroccan occupiers into a tourist destination and now a film set, always with the aim of erasing the Sahrawi identity of the city. Another illegal occupation, another repression against a people, the Sahrawi, unjustly plundered with the approval of Western governments, including the Spanish. Free Sahara Now (sic)."The Ministry of Culture of the Polisario Front, the nationalist Sahrawi group seeking to end the occupation through armed resistance, also issued a statement. It read, "This act constitutes a dangerous form of cultural normalisation with the occupation, and an unethical exploitation of art and cinema to whitewash the image of a colonial situation that is still imposed by force and met daily with the steadfast resistance of a people struggling for freedom and dignity."However, Reda Benjelloun of the Moroccan Cinematographic Center told a local outlet, Medias24, last week that the production filming in Dakhla is "extremely important." He argued that this marks the first major Hollywood production to do so. "Dakhla will indeed offer extraordinary opportunities in the future to foreign productions which will find geography very different from other regions of Morocco," he said.advertisement'The Odyssey', is adapted from Homer's ancient Greek epic poem has also been filmed in Morocco, Greece and Italy. It features Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya and others in key roles.The movie is set for a theatrical release on July 17, 2026.- EndsTrending Reel