Christopher Nolan condemned by film festival for shooting ‘The Odyssey’ in occupied territory
Director Christopher Nolan has been criticised by the Sahara International Festival for filming The Odyssey in an occupied West Saharan city earlier this month, which has been under Moroccan rule for over half a century.
Nolan’s upcoming movie, which stars Tom Holland, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Elliot Page, Charlize Theron and Robert Pattinson, is set to be released in cinemas on July 17th, 2026.
Filming for the project has been international, with shoots taking place in Scotland, Greece, and Marrakesh. Earlier this month, part of the film was shot for four days in Dakhla in Western Sahara, and after the short shoot concluded, prominent voices from the region have condemned the decision. The area has been under Moroccan rule since Spain gave up control of the territory in the 1970s.
The Polisario Front, a Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement that seeks independence for Western Sahara, has now accused Nolan of “a clear violation of international law and ethical standards governing cultural and artistic work”.
Additionally, Nolan’s decision has been condemned by the Sahara International Film Festival. María Carrión, the festival’s director, said in a statement: “By filming part of The Odyssey in an occupied territory billed as a ‘news black hole’ by Reporters without Borders, Nolan and his team, perhaps unknowingly and unwillingly, are contributing to the repression of the Sahrawi people by Morocco, and to the Moroccan regime’s efforts to normalise its occupation of Western Sahara.”
Carrión continued: “We are sure that were they to understand the full implications of filming such a high-profile film in a territory whose indigenous peoples are unable to make their own films about their stories under occupation, Nolan and his team would be horrified.”
The festival then called upon Nolan, who had finished filming in the region before the statement was published, to “stand in solidarity with the Sahrawi people who have been under military occupation for 50 years and who are routinely imprisoned and tortured for their peaceful struggle for self-determination”.
The United Nations lists Western Sahara as a “non-self-governing territory”, and according to The Guardian, the UN’s secretary-general said last year that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has not been able to access the region since 2015.
Additionally, Amnesty International have claimed that Moroccan authorities “restrict dissent and the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly”.
Nolan has yet to respond to criticism from the Saharan International Film Festival.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.