The Runner

“This is a very important project. The story of the Western Sahara is one of the great untold stories of the present time.”
– Ken Loach

The Runner is a film about endurance. It is the story of a champion long-distance runner whose journey transformed him from an athlete into the symbol of a national liberation movement. Salah Hmatou Ameidan is willing to risk his life, his career, his family and his nationality to run for a country that doesn’t exist. He is from Western Sahara, officially Africa’s last colony and under Moroccan occupation since 1975.

“The Runner is an excellent and necessary way of telling the ‘forgotten’ story of Western Sahara.”
– John Pilger