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Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has thrown her weight behind the Zurich-premiering My Home of Wind and Sand, an important and affecting documentary following a young woman’s fight for her community’s independence.
From Austrian filmmaker Patrick Wally, who shot the feature over a 10-year period, My Home of Wind and Sand is a portrait of Sahrawi activist Najla Mohamed Lamin. She was born and raised in the refugee camps near Tindouf, Algeria, and has devoted her adult life to campaigning for Western Sahara’s liberation from Moroccan sovereignty. We follow Lamin from her studies in the U.S. to representing the Sahrawi people at the United Nations, where she argues for peaceful resistance as a generation born in exile (Spain withdrew its occupation of the region in 1975) grows older and angrier without resolution.
When armed conflict resumes after decades of ceasefire, the convictions that have shaped Najla’s public life are tested. And then, toward the end of the doc, comes a kick to the gut: The UN Security Council adopts a US-sponsored resolution describing genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as the “most feasible solution” to the conflict.
Lamin and Wally, whose sweet and unlikely friendship anchors this depiction of the Sahrawi people’s fight for justice, were celebrated at the Zurich Film Festival premiere on Tuesday evening, where they urged attendees to spread the word about the issue.
And Thunberg, who in January 2025 visited the Sahrawi camps with Lamin accompanying and translating for her, spoke plainly about what must change and called out the media for its silence. “This movie is so much about betrayal,” said the young activist. “First, it is the occupation and the violence in itself that somehow becomes viewed as normal. […] It’s not attractive enough to gain any media attention or clicks, which is yet another betrayal. And then it’s the whole international community, all the international organizations that people are putting their entire trust to, but are being met with nothing but betrayal.”
She continued, asking the audience to take Lamin’s story with them: “We do not talk about Western Sahara — people don’t even know about Western Sahara, and there’s just this extreme hypocrisy that makes me so, so angry and upset. While this story is, of course, incredibly inspirational, it is about perseverance, steadfastness, and continuing the fight as a matter of duty. I am convinced that Najla [and her community] do not want thank-yous or applause, but action. It falls on every single one of us in this room, especially us privileged people who have a platform or access to resources, to actually take that moral obligation to amplify the Western Saharan struggles. […] We will spread the word, and do everything in our power to ensure global solidarity and justice. Because otherwise, we are nothing more than hypocrites ourselves.”
Lamin reflected on seeing a decade of her life up on screen and paid tribute to the thousands of people — including her late sister — who will never have their voices heard. She said at Zurich’s Kinokoni: “Standing in Europe, in Switzerland, I think it’s very easy for us to think that we are completely separate from each other as nations, as cultures, as activists, as women, as men. ‘Oh, she lives in Africa. She has nothing to do with me. I live in Switzerland. I have nothing to do with the person in Gaza or in Sudan or in Congo.'”
The campaigner added: “But when you really sit with yourself, you do a little bit of research, or just take the courage to be honest with yourself… We’re only one small planet, and we’re not separated. We’re not different. Morocco cannot do what it’s doing without the support of Europe and the U.S., and Israel cannot do what it’s doing to the Palestinian people without the support of Europe and the U.S. […] Free European citizens, you have a very, very big responsibility to look back at your privileges, to look back at your government, at your interests, and see where [you] can make a difference.”
The room erupted into raucous applause as Lamin spoke. All she is asking for, she added, is a referendum where her people can decide their own future. Wally added: “I was so astonished of her story and how she tells it, and even [at] the first meeting, everything she told me… It was eye-opening for me. She had so much knowledge, and I learned so much from her that I wouldn’t have expected. So that’s why I tried to make a film about her.”
Lightdox is handling worldwide sales on My Home of Wind and Sand, a WyFilm production. The 22nd Zurich Film Festival runs Sept. 24-Oct. 4.
English (US) ·