Sahrawi Camps Recall Lost Cities

Why this is here: The Sahrawi film school is the first created in a refugee camp, providing a creative outlet and documenting the experiences of a displaced people.

In the desert camps of Tindouf, Algeria, Sahrawi people name their settlements after the cities they were forced to leave behind. These camps shelter those displaced after Spain withdrew from its former colony in 1976. Residents, many of whom once held Spanish citizenship, maintain a strong connection to Spanish language and culture.

Spain has not fulfilled obligations to its former citizens, specifically denying the Sahrawi people access to regularization offered to roughly 500,000 others. The camps display remarkable hospitality and a sense of community, hosting schools—including a film school—and attracting international solidarity workers.

Students at the film school document daily life and the 50-year exile, though younger generations increasingly lack direct memories of the sea. One engineer, known as “Abdel, the of the ships,” trained abroad but now lives in the desert, imagining the vessels he might have built. The situation remains unresolved, and the work of preserving culture and memory continues.