How do you relate to a land that you have only experienced through stories? A land that once belonged to your ancestors? How can you relate to any country, when all you know are the confinements of a refugee camp?

*CinéDOC-Young Award*
CinéDOC-Tbilisi International Documentary Festival, Georgia

The youth documentary Bachir in Wonderland provides a glimpse of the Western Saharan quest for sovereignty, through the eyes of a 10-year-old Saharan boy dreaming about the rhythm of a far sea.

Bachir’s landscape changes when he gets the unique opportunity to go on a summer camp in Spain, replacing his family’s tent in the middle of the Algerian desert for the apartment of a Spanish host family in Barcelona. With this new door opening, a new sense of belonging is explored against the uncertainties of statelessness.

To watch the trailer, click here.

Crew:
Scenario and direction: Els Duran, Evelien Vehof
Camera: Wouter Boes
Sound: Els Duran, Evelien Vehof
Editor: Matthieu Hes
Sound design: Hens Zimmerman
Grading: Xandra ter Horst
Translation: Mohamed Suleiman Labat, Mahyoub Ferrer Lahsen,
Nura Mulay Ali Malainin, Daniel Naamani
Production El Aiun: Hilt Teeuwen
Production Barcelona: Carlijn Teeven
Production Mensjesrechten: Kiyomi Molin
Commissioning editor Mensjesrechten: Saskia Wielinga

Bachir in Wonderland was produced by EO/IKONdocs,
as a part of the youth documentary series Mensjesrechten / Just Kids.