{"id":211,"date":"2011-04-22T04:12:07","date_gmt":"2011-04-22T04:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitednotionsfilm.com\/stolen\/?page_id=211"},"modified":"2013-01-06T02:55:17","modified_gmt":"2013-01-06T02:55:17","slug":"reviews","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/stolenthedocu.com\/?page_id=211","title":{"rendered":"Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SELECTED REVIEWS<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe cinematography is stunning, the characters are compelling, the interviews are intimate and the story is as gripping as a good spy thriller.\u201d \u00a0ABOUT.COM<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s compelling to watch. You really have to see it to believe it. It\u2019s like a spy story.\u201d\u00a0ABC MOVIE TIME<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPacy, exciting and hugely engrossing. Guaranteed to spark intense debate about the relationship between documakers and their subjects wherever it’s shown.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0VARIETY<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cStolen perhaps raises more questions than it answers, but does so in the tradition of the best sort of political art. As always, it remains to the viewer to decide exactly where the truth lies.\u201d\u00a0STRANGER THAN FICTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe storytelling process, as it unfolds on camera, is at once fascinating and alarming\u201d\u00a0POP MATTERS<\/strong><\/div>\n

\u201cRiveting stuff. The film moves into political thriller territory when the filmmakers are made suddenly aware that the conversations they have taped put the lives of their subjects in peril, and they themselves have become prey to sinister political and cultural forces.\u201d\u00a0 THE TORONTO STAR<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is noteworthy that the film regardless of the attempts either from Morocco or Polisario to serve its political agenda, has a high level of professionalism\u201d AL ARABIYA<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Stolen is a dramatic and complex exploration of modern slavery, not to mention a fascinating study of the perils of documentary filmmaking.”\u00a0THE GLOBE AND MAIL<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA controversial exploration into the world of the Saharawi refugees\u201d\u00a0INDIWIRE<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSuspenseful, scary, and displaying personal bravery by Ayala and Fallshaw, this exceptional film is a searing testimony to man\u2019s continued inhumanity to man.\u201d\u00a0SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about making documentaries is that you never know what you’re going to get. In few cases is that more remarkable than in this one. There’s no denying that it’s fascinating, or that what it reveals is tremendously important.\u201d\u00a0EYE FOR FILM UK<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe existence of modern slavery has been detailed in books like Kevin Bales’s Disposable People, but rarely has it been covered on film as intimately as in Stolen.\u201d TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA controversial film, that surprises you at first, shocks you in the middle and angers you by the end\u201d ROLLING STONE BRASIL<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe film elicits a strong emotional response from viewers and deals with serious racial, social and economic divisions in Africa and the controversy it has generated will likely bring attention not only to the film, but also to the issues it film highlights.\u201d\u00a0ALL AFRICA US<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERTS<\/span><\/p>\n

‘It is my opinion that the film Stolen portrays a situation of enslavement within the refugee camps of the Western Sahara.’\u00a0Dr. Kevin Bales – <\/strong>President\u00a0FREE THE SLAVES<\/a> Download file<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

‘Asim and I are of the opinion that the practices described in the interviews are consistent with slavery as it is practised in neighbouring Mauritania and that the interviewees are credible… It is also a common practice for states to put pressure on victims to retract their statements.’\u00a0Romana Cacchioli<\/strong> – Africa Programme Co-ordinator\u00a0ANTI-SLAVERY INTERNATIONAL<\/a> Letter of support<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

‘In sum, credible sources testified to HRW about vestiges of slavery that continue to affect the lives of a portion of the black minority in the Tindouf camps’\u00a0Eric Goldstein – <\/strong>Research Director in the Middle East and North Africa division\u00a0HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

‘Even activists who have been fighting against forced encampment (aka, human warehousing) as the all-too-often default fate of refugees for decades on end will be shocked. I thought I had seen it all. I hadn’t.’\u00a0Merrill Smith<\/strong> – Director of International Planning and Analysis for the\u00a0USCRI<\/a><\/p>\n

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FILMMAKER QUOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Totally fascinating. A great piece of work\u2019\u00a0KEVIN MACDONALD<\/strong>, Touching the Void, The Last King of Scotland (Academy Award Winner 2000)<\/p>\n

\u2018Stolen is much more than a film about modern slavery: it is a description of the crime that seems to follow humanity until it’s end, the crime of ignorance. Congratulations to your work Ayala! It’s useless to say, I could relate to most everything in it, to the characters in the desert as well as to you as filmmakers. I feel like i’ve been in and out of North Africa with you two people for some years. Your film is stronger than the stupid attempts to discredit it.\u2019 HUBERT SAUPER, <\/strong>Darwin\u2019s Nightmare (Academy Award Nominee 2006)<\/p>\n

\u2018Exciting film. In the Sahara, there is neither justice nor poetry\u2019 ANDERS \u00d8STERGAARD<\/strong>, Burma VJ (Academy Award Nominee 2010)<\/p>\n

\u2018Having seen so much of the footage, I can tell you that the filmmakers did not lie to or manipulate their subjects. They went to do one story but upon the realization of the issue of slavery, the film changed. The Polisario do not want this story out because it makes them look bad. And I believe they are using all means to discredit the filmmakers.\u2019\u00a0DEBORAH DICKSON <\/strong>(Three time Academy Award Nominee)<\/p>\n

\u2018Violeta and Dan went to make a film about refugees, but soon realised there was a bigger story right under their noses. An important, hidden story that needed to be told to the world. The ordeal they went through to bring their raw material home in the teeth of opposition was extraordinary, and no less arduous has been the task of piecing it all together into a powerful and moving document. They have my complete admiration.\u2019 \u00a0BOB CONOLLY<\/strong> (Academy Award Nominee)<\/p>\n

\u2018Dan and Violeta told us the truth as they saw it and people risked their positions, trusted them to tell that truth hoping it might help. They were following a time-honoured tradition of being truly independent filmmakers. When the same slavery accusations proved true of the opposing side \u2013 the Polisario\u2019s enemies, the Moroccans, Violeta and Dan also exposed that.<\/p>\n

They discovered early in their careers what it took me decades to see: the Left is just as capable of \u2018devouring its own babies\u2019 as the Right. Rather than facing the music and moving to right an ancient feudal custom, the Polisario have battened down the hatches and brought on board well intentioned but na\u00efve PC supporters who out of a blind loyalty have done their best to undercut the veracity of Stolen and thus continue the practice of slavery in the refugee camps. This is a classic case of shoot the messengers.\u2019\u00a0DAVID BRADBURY <\/strong>(Two time Academy Award Nominee)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SELECTED REVIEWS \u201cThe cinematography is stunning, the characters are compelling, the interviews are intimate and the story is as gripping as a good spy thriller.\u201d \u00a0ABOUT.COM \u201cIt\u2019s compelling to watch. You really have to see it to believe it. It\u2019s like a spy story.\u201d\u00a0ABC MOVIE TIME \u201cPacy, exciting and hugely engrossing. Guaranteed to spark intense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-211","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stolenthedocu.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stolenthedocu.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stolenthedocu.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stolenthedocu.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stolenthedocu.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/stolenthedocu.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224,"href":"http:\/\/stolenthedocu.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/211\/revisions\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stolenthedocu.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}