''Wilaya'' (, also known as ''Tears of Sand'') is a 2011 Spanish film directed by Pedro Pérez Rosado. The film is a minimalist drama about a Sahrawi

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

family suddenly confronted with the death of the mother and the return of the younger sister, who had lived most of her life in Spain, reflecting the separation of many Sahrawi families.

Plot

Fatimetu is a Sahrawi girl who returns for the burial of her mother to the

Sahrawi refugee camps The Sahrawi refugee camps (; ), also known as the Tindouf camps, are a collection of refugee camps set up in the Tindouf Province, Algeria, in 1975–76 for Sahrawi refugees fleeing from Moroccan forces, who advanced through Western Sahara dur ...

after 16 years living in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Her older brother Jatri tells Fatimetu that, in her

last will A will and testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person (executor) is to manage the property until its final distribut ...

, her mother left her both the family's jaima (tent) and the responsibility of taking care of her

handicapped Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

sister Hayat. Fatimetu reluctantly accepts the responsibility. She buys an old

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a Truck_classification#Table_of_US_GVWR_classifications, light or medium duty truck that has an enclosed cabin (truck), cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (th ...

and finds work transporting goods between the camps (

wilaya A wilayah ( or ''wilāya'', plural ; Urdu, Pashto and ; ) is an administrative division, usually translated as "state", "province" or occasionally as "governorate". The word comes from the Arabic root "''w-l-y''", "to govern": a ''wāli''—"g ...

s), but Fatimetu is torn between life in the desert and the memories of her Spanish

foster family Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community or treatment centre), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent", or with a family member a ...

and friends.

Main cast

* Nadhira Mohamed — Fatimetu * Memona Mohamed — Hayat *

Aziza Brahim Aziza Brahim (, born June 9, 1976) is a Sahrawi people, Sahrawi singer and actress. Biography Life She was born in 1976 in the Sahrawi refugee camps, in the Tindouf region of Algeria where her mother had settled in late 1975, fleeing from the M ...

— Sdiga * Ainina Sidagmet — Said * Mohamed Mouloud — Jatri

Awards and nominations

Abu Dhabi Film Festival The Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF; ), formerly the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF), was an international film festival held in the city of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 2007 to 2015. History The Middle East Internationa ...

New Horizons Competition Best Actress (Memona Mohamed, winner) * Malaga Film Festival Gold Biznaga Best Film (nominee) * Malaga Film Festival Silver Biznaga Best Original Soundtrack (Aziza Brahim, winner) * Luxor Egyptian & European Film Festival Gold Djed Feature Film Competition (winner) *

Algiers International Film Festival Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Stati ...

Best Fiction Feature Film Competition (nominee)

Filming locations

The film was shot entirely at the Sahrawi refugee camps located in Tinduf,

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

References

{{reflist 2011 films Spanish drama films 2010s Spanish-language films 2010s Arabic-language films Sahrawi films 2011 drama films 2011 multilingual films Spanish multilingual films 2010s Spanish films