Stolen

Australian journalists Violeta Ayala and Daniel Fallshaw set out to make a documentary about a UN family reunion program in Algeria. They followed Fetim, who has spent most of her life at a refugee camp, and her three children. Fetim has not seen her mother in over 30 years. Soon, the journalists are making a completely different film. Fetim is enslaved to Deido, an Arab woman she calls “white grandmother”. Her fate is just a grain of sand in the Sahara desert, where no one dares to speak about slavery or fight for their rights. The camp management acting on a UN mandate does not interfere, and the polisario, who wields the power at the camps, denies the problem. Despite warnings, Ayala and Fallshaw feel they have to act. They bury the tapes in the sand and flee the camp.

Stolen is a brave film. Ayala and Fallshaw put themselves in danger to make it and shed light on this important issue.

Hannele Majaniemi │Translation by Maria Koistinen