Info:

Screening format: DCP
Directors: Alex Veitch, Brahim B. Ali, Mohamedsalem Uered, Anna Klara Åhrén
Countries of origin: Western Sahara, Sweden
Language: Arabic, Spanish
Subtitles: English
Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes

About the film:

An iconic singer's life, music and lyrics are deeply intertwined with the struggle for freedom in a country known as Africa's last colony.

The title of this film is also the name of iconic singer Mariem Hassan’s song, an exuberant rally cry for revolution and freedom in Western Sahara. The result of a collaboration between filmmaker collectives RåFILM from Sweden and Saharawi Voice from the Western Sahara refugee camps in Algeria, HAIYU interweaves Mariem Hassan’s music and her personal quest for her country’s independence with larger historical events dating back to the region’s Spanish colonisation, and subsequent occupation by Morocco.

Told through archive footage and interviews with family, artists, friends and revolutionaries the film details Hassan’s commitment and compassion. Her evocative music and poetry does not only represent her spirit, but that of the Saharawi women, and a people who continue their struggle for self-determination and the battle for their land and resources.

Saharawi Voice & RåFILM

The film is a product of a collaboration between the filmmaking collectives Saharawi Voice and RåFILM.

Saharawi Voice is a collective of Saharawi filmmakers and storytellers based in the Saharawi refugee camps and aims to raise awareness about Africa’s last colony, Western Sahara. The combined knowledge and expertise enable them to tell a story about Western Sahara that is compelling, unique, and informative.

RåFILM is a collective from Sweden who have worked on social justice projects in a wide range of forms, including another documentary on Western Sahara titled ‘3 Stolen Cameras’ which was produced and directed with the Saharawi media organisation Equipe Media.