THE RUNNER (2012)

Resistance of he Sahrawi people

United Kingdom-Ireland-France. Direction: Saeed Taji Farouky. Production: Elhum Shakerifar / Tourist With a Typewriter, Underground Films, Les FIlms du Balibari. Photography: Saeed Taji Farouky. Music: Joe Lewis. Edition: Emiliano Battista. Running time: 97 min

LANGUAGE: Arabic / SUBTITLES: Spanish, English

This is a film about resistance. It is the story of a long-distance runner whose journey transformed him into the symbol of a national liberation movement. Salah Ameidan risks his life, his profession, his family and his nationality to run for a country that doesn’t exist. He comes from Western Sahara, under Moroccan occupation since 1975.

Salah grew up in the Sahara. When he was 14 he was forced, under threat, to join the Moroccan athletics team. He was triple cross-country champion for Morocco and won 2nd place in the Africa championships. Until in 2003, on winning a race in France, he pulled out the Western Sahara flag and waved it across the finishing line. His life would never be the same again.