Christopher Nolan criticised for filming ‘The Odyssey’ in occupied Western Sahara

Oscar-winning British-American director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception, Oppenheimer) has been accused of “violating ethical standards” by the organisers of the Western Sahara International Film Festival (FiSahara).  

Nolan has been shooting part of his upcoming film The Odyssey, an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem starring Matt Damon, Charlize Theron and Zendaya, in the Western Saharan coastal city of Dakhla, which has been under Moroccan occupation for 50 years.  

The organisers of FiSahara have warned that this move on Nolan’s behalf could serve to normalise decades of repression and help whitewash the Moroccan occupation.  

“By filming part of The Odyssey in an occupied territory… Nolan and his team, perhaps unknowingly and unwittingly, are contributing to Morocco’s repression of the Sahrawi people and to the Moroccan regime’s efforts to normalise its occupation of Western Sahara,” said María Carrión, FiSahara’s executive director. 

“We are sure that if they understood the full implications of filming a high-profile film in a territory whose Indigenous peoples cannot make their own films about their stories under occupation, Nolan and his team would be horrified.” 

Western Sahara is a disputed territory and is classified as “non-self-governing” by the United Nations. Home to the Indigenous Sahrawi people, it is the last remaining African colonial state to achieve independence with Morocco still claiming control over the majority of its land.  

Amnesty International said in a recent report that the “authorities continued to restrict dissent and the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly in Western Sahara”. Reporters Without Borders has described Western Sahara as a “desert for journalists” and said that “torture, arrests, physical abuse, persecution, intimidation, harassment, slander, defamation, technological sabotage, and lengthy prison sentences are daily fare for Sahrawi journalists”. 

FiSahara said it was calling on Nolan and his crew and cast 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”. 

Actor Javier Bardem, who has appeared at FiSahara in the past, posted the festival’s statement on his Instagram with the caption: “For 50 years, Morocco has occupied Western Sahara, expelling the Sahrawi people from their cities. Dakhla is one of them, converted by the Moroccan occupiers into a tourist destination and now a film set, always with the aim of erasing the Sahrawi identity of the city. Another illegal occupation, another repression against a people, the Sahrawi, unjustly plundered with the approval of Western governments, including the Spanish. #FreeSaharaNow.” 

Nolan has yet to comment. 

The Odyssey has a budget of $250 million - the most expensive film of Nolan’s career – and is shot entirely using Imax cameras, making it the first film to do so. It is set for a theatrical release on 17 July 2026.