President Jose Ramos-Horta supports Western Sahara independence
The Monthly.com.au
The President of Timor Leste and co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, Jose Ramos-Horta headlined a discussion on the status of Western Sahara, Africa s last colony, in Melbourne, Australia on 23 July 2009.

View Jose Ramos-Horta’s presentation >>

The Canberra Times
Wednesday, July 1, 2009

A documentary on Western Sahara refugees marks a low point, writes Kamal Fadel.
Last month in Sydney, the notion of democracy took a pounding. The launch of the documentary Stolen at the Sydney Film Festival marked a low point in local film culture, and signified the tenuous grip on truth we now have in contemporary society. That such a film should be financed with about $350,000 of public money – through Screen Australia – and accepted by the prestigious festival raises questions about the nature of reality and on how it is depicted in mainstream media, such as through the medium of the film documentary.
Canberra Times article.pdf
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The following are some interesting links to media coverage of the “Stolen” controversy:

·        http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2009/06/15/2598994.htm
·        http://newmatilda.com/2009/06/26/slave-story
·        http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/799/41153
·        http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2598993.htm
·        http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/film/sydney-film-festival-2009/i-am-not-a-slave-says-film-subject/2009/06/11/1244664795732.html
·        http://nevamwiti.com/2009/06/12/a-film-makers-faux-pas/
·        http://artneuro.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/slave-to-the-funding/
·        http://media.smh.com.au/entertainment/red-carpet/sahara-slavery-fiercely-denied-582354.html
·        http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/newsradio/audio/20090614-outofafrica.mp3

26 Jun 2009
The documentary Stolen created a storm at the Sydney Film Festival when its central character claimed she had been falsely portrayed as a slave. Now, a UNHCR spokeswoman says her interview for the film was also manipulated
Fetim Sellami immediately reminded me of the strong, gracious women I had met in the Western Sahara refugee camps in 2004 when I toured there with then-president of the NSW Upper House, Meredith Burgmann. Sitting on Burgmann’s couch in inner city Glebe — where she stayed while in Sydney — Sellami chatted happily in Hassaniya with her husband and smiled at our clumsy attempts to communicate.
However, when asked about her experience with Australian filmmakers Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw, her demeanour darkened…..(cont.).

Read Yvette’s article in The New Matilda >>

Tony Iltis, Green Left Weekly, 21 June 2009

Saharawi refugee and preschool teacher Fetim Sellami is a central character in the Australian documentary Stolen, a film set in the refugee camps in south-west Algeria that have been home to 165,000 Saharawi refugees since their country, Western Sahara, was invaded by Morocco in 1975.
However, when she and her husband, Baba Hocine Mahfoud, attended its June 11 premiere at the Sydney Film Festival, they did not receive red carpet treatment, despite the long distance they had travelled.

Read this article >>