AL KHADRA
Noemie Mendelle | Western Sahara, Scotland 2012 | 25 Min. | OmeU
Al Khadra is a renowned Saharawi war poetess, nicknamed “poet of the rifle”. She is living in the Al Auin wind swept refugee camp in Algeria. Now in her late 70’s, this toothless, illiterate former nomad, has been composing verses over the 36 years of the Sahara conflict. Her poetry is a vivid testament of the conflict and she is the gatekeeper of her people’s memory of fight and hardship. The film observes how this extraordinary matriarch, survives the desolation of life in the camp, and how she keeps her oral poetry alive and attempts to pass on her activism to the next generation with public performances.
