Why is Christopher Nolan criticized for filming 'The Odyssey' in Western Sahara?

New Delhi: Acclaimed director Christopher Nolan has been attacked for filming scenes of his next epic, The Odyssey, in Dakhla, a Moroccan-occupied Western Saharan city. Western Sahara is a disputed territory and is classified as “non-self-governing” by the United Nations.

"Dakhla is not just a beautiful place with cinematic sand dunes. First and foremost, it is an occupied and militarized city whose indigenous Sahrawi population is subjected to brutal repression by the Moroccan occupation forces," says the Western Sahara International Film Festival.

"By filming part of The Odyssey in an occupied territory classified as a 'journalistic desert' by Reporters Without Borders , Nolan and his team, perhaps unwittingly, are contributing to Morocco's repression of the Sahrawi people and to the Moroccan regime's efforts to normalize its occupation of Western Sahara," says FiSahara's executive director, María Carrión.

"We're sure that if they understood the full implications of filming a high-profile movie in a territory whose Indigenous peoples are unable to make their own films about their stories under occupation, Nolan and his team would be horrified," the festival said.

The Odyssey — a $250m adaptation starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong'o, and Charlize Theron — is due out in July 2026, and represents Nolan's most ambitious film with shooting also taking place in Morocco, Greece, Italy, Scotland, and Iceland.

According to the Hollywood studio Universal, which is backing the project, the film will be “a mythic action epic shot across the world” made “using brand new Imax film technology”.

Javier Bardem, who has appeared at FiSahara in the past, shared the statement on his Instagram handle. Nolan’s representatives have been contacted for a response, but the director has yet to comment.