Lightdox Picks Up Sahrawi Doc Before Zurich Premiere — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Lightdox acquired world sales rights to documentary "My Home of Wind and Sand" ahead of its world premiere Tuesday at the Zurich Film Festival, with additional public screenings scheduled Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday.
- Patrick Wally spent over 11 years on the film, which profiles Sahrawi activist Najla Mohamed Lamin, a woman born in a refugee camp in Algeria who leads peaceful campaigns for Western Sahara self-determination.
- Greta Thunberg, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee who visited Sahrawi refugee camps last year and co-led a climate-change workshop with Lamin there, is expected to attend Tuesday's premiere and participate in a post-screening conversation.
- The documentary explores how Lamin's pacifist convictions are tested when armed conflict resumes after decades of ceasefire, raising the question of whether "one person can still create change inside circumstances that appear impossible," per the synopsis.
- The film is produced by Shirin Hooshmandi, Lamin, and Wally, with editing by Anna Kirst, additional editing by Daniel Rutz, and music by Ahmed Zain; Wally also served as cinematographer.
- Anna Berthollet, CEO of Lightdox, framed the film as "not a geopolitical story; it is an intimate portrait" of Lamin's life and mission, saying Lightdox felt "humbled to have been entrusted" with its global rollout.
Why it matters: Lightdox gains a globally visible title with Greta Thunberg's premiere appearance generating publicity, while Lamin's perspective on the largely Western-overlooked Western Sahara conflict — unresolved for over 50 years and still classified by the UN as a "Non-Self-Governing Territory" — reaches international audiences through the acquisition. The film lands just as armed conflict has resumed after decades of ceasefire, reframing Lamin's lifelong pacifist stance as a live, contested proposition rather than historical record.
Ask SkimNews
