GALB’ECHAOUF

The breathtaking landscapes of Western Sahara don’t seem to have a memory. Yet, the eyes of its people bear enduring signs of the tragedy that has marked their existence for decades. Through small details, fragments of a lasting conflict find their way to the screen.

ABDESSAMAD EL MONTASSIR

Born in 1989, he lives and works between Boujdour and Marseille. The research of Abdessamad El Montassir is centered on a trilogy: the right to forget, fictional and visceral narratives, and the trauma of anticipation. In his body of work and research, the artist sets reflexive processes that invite us to rethink history through collective or fictional narratives and immaterial archives. His projects also question traumas and their impacts on individuals, their behavior, and their socio-political evolution, and reveal processes where these traumas serve to historization. Abdessamad El Montassir tackles these problematics while taking into consideration the knowledge on non-human identities in order to ignite the emergence of renewed manners to think our environments.

• Visions du Réel Nyon, Switzerland 
• IDFA Amsterdam, Netherlands
• RIDM Montreal International Documentary Festival, Canada
• 17th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, UK
• Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, USA
• Sharjah Film Platform, United Arab Emirates 
• Tampere Film Festival, Finland
• DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Canada

DOKer 2022 — Short Competition