Description
Those who do not know the Sahara think that in the desert there is only sand. But here there are children, who play and draw and make movies, and who would like not to have to think about war. In the desert there is a European colony, an occupied country, called Western Sahara, and there are thousands of Sahrawi refugees living a hard life in exile. LITTLE SAHARA is an animated documentary that tells their story, that of a solidary and resilient people who try thrive and grow up in the Hamada, where everything struggles to grow.
Director
Emilio Martí López
milio Martí (Valencia, 1978) is a producer, director and animator of films that often mix animation and real image and that aim for social change. Among these are UNANIMATED (2011) —comedy about the fear of being “real”—, and the animated documentaries MARHABA (2016) —shot with Syrian refugee children at a camp in Greece—; MAKUN - Drawings in an immigrants Detention Center (2019) —that animates the walls in one of these centers—; and LITTLE SÁHARA (2023), that tells the story of the last European colony in Africa (Western Sahara, which is still part of Spain but is occupied by Morocco) through the testimony and drawings of the Pioneers School in the refugee camps in Algeria.
In addition to producing his own films, Emilio Martí often accompanies other people in the process of artistic and cinematographic creation, with his educational work and as an Art Therapist. Emilio Martí is currently producing the animated short film ANETTA and the series ANIMATED RIGHTS.
