Hamada

Numerous documentaries have been made from refugee camps in the Middle East, but Hamada gives a fascinating and surprising perspective on the topic compared to many other films. We follow three young people living in Tifariti on the edge of the Sahara Desert, on the border between Algeria and Moroccan-occupied West Sahara. The film serves as an introduction to one of the more forgotten conflicts of the Middle East, while getting under the skin of the main protagonists. Zaara runs around and tries to quarrel herself into a job, despite not having the skills or the experience she claims to have. Sidhamed has a quieter personality, dreaming of, and eventually succeeding in fleeing to Spain, only to find that his dreams are not so easily fulfilled there either. Hamada is exquisitely shot, in a beautiful desert landscape, and it offers a surprisingly optimistic and fresh picture of life in a refugee camp, while conveying the political conflict in a nuanced way.

Eloy Dominguez Serén is born in Spain and lives in Sweden. He has previously directed several short documentaries that have been popular on the festival track. Hamada is his first feature length film, and it premiered at the prestigious IDFA festival in Amsterdam in 2018.