Stolen

When Australian directors Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw set out for a refugee camp in Algeria to shoot the story of the reunion of a mother and daughter separated for many years they had no idea where the story would take them. While filming Fetima and her oldest daughter Leila it emerges that they are the slaves of their white "grandmother" Deido. In the Morocco-occupied Western Sahara, where they come from, the rights of freed "black" slaves are a thorny subject. Years can pass between the granting of freedom and official confirmation, and in the interim period the individuals concerned have no proof of the fact that they have been freed. It even happens that their children are taken away from them and sold. Meanwhile, the Moroccan government tries to cover up the existence of slavery, which is why the shooting of this film was dangerous for both its makers and their interviewees. By means of the police, the powers that be harass them and attempt to confiscate their tapes, while the spying, theft and manipulation is unrelenting.