Emminent filmmaker Christopher Nolan has come under fire for shooting a few portions of his upcoming much-anticipated film The Odyssey in Dakhla, a city in Morocco-occupied Western Sahara which has been designated as a “non‑self‑governing territory” by the US since 1963.
The Western Sahara international film festival organisers warned that him choosing to shoot his film in the area could normalise years repression. Maria Carrion, the festival's executive director, said, "By filming part of The Odyssey in an occupied territory... Nolan and his team are contributing to Morocco's repression of the Sahrawi people and to the Moroccan regime's efforts to normalize its occupation of Western Sahara."
Over the years, the region has been a hotbed for filming major films and series. The territory is not legally recognized as part of Morocco, but countries like the US and the UK have recently expressed support for Morocco's claim to the region.
FiSahara told the Oppenheimer director to "stand in solidarity with the Sahrawi people who have been under military occupation for 50 years" and stop shooting in the region.
The Odyssey, which is based on Homer's epic poem, follows Odysseus as he undergoes a eventful voyage over 10 years, to get back to his home country of Ithaca. He meets several figures of myth like the cyclops Polyphemus, sirens, and Circe. Back home his wife Penelope waits for him as several suitors try to take over their home.
Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, portraying the lead role in his third time collaborating with Nolan, after Interstellar and Oppenheimer. Tom Holland will portray Telemachus, Odysseus' son, with Charlize Theron as Circe. The rest of the cast includes Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Pattinson, and Jon Bernthal, amongst others. Recently Cosmo Jarvis had exited the film and Logan Marshall-Green joined him in his place.
With an estimated budget of $250 million, it is poised to be the most expensive film of Nolan's career and the first blockbuster to be shot entirely using IMAX film cameras and is scheduled to be released in theatres on July 17, 2026.