Watch STOLEN on VIMEO ON DEMAND

STOLEN is available to watch on Vimeo on Demand here. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/stolen  

Buy STOLEN

NEW!! Comprehensive STUDY GUIDE now available Stolen is an excellent addition to any classroom and ideal for courses on: Human Rights, African Studies, Social Justice, Global Solidarity, Slavery, Liberation Slavery, Journalism, Race Studies, Political Science, Directing Film, Producing Film, International Law, ...

Reviews

SELECTED REVIEWS “The cinematography is stunning, the characters are compelling, the interviews are intimate and the story is as gripping as a good spy thriller.”  ABOUT.COM “It’s compelling to watch. You really have to see it to believe it. It’s like a spy story.” ABC MOVIE TIME “Pacy, exciting and hugely engrossing. Guaranteed ...

Showing on PBS WORLD AFROPOP – 2.5.2013

Premieres February 5th on WORLD Channel. In this family reunion documentary turned international political thriller a pair of journalists discover the existence of slavery in a refugee camp. In their journey to tell a story of modern day slavery they themselves become the story. Directed by ...

Press Room

Press Kit Selected Reviews, Festivals, Prizes, Synopsis, etc Download   Stills from the film Download   Poster   Pictures of the directors Download  

The Characters

The story begins with Fetim, a black Saharawi who was taken from her mother as a toddler by Deido, a ‘white-Arab’ woman. Thirty years later Fetim is reunited with her mother through a UN family reunion program.The reunion sparks a revolution amongst the black Saharawis who speak out against being ...

The Filmmakers

VIOLETA AYALA (Writer/Director/Producer) Violeta is an artist, writer and film director born in Bolivia. She studied Theatre and Journalism at Charles Sturt University in Australia, where her curiosity in filmmaking began and she ...

FAQs

How did slavery surface while you were making the film? It was on our third trip to the camps and we’d been living with Fetim and her family for more than a week. Once we'd settled in, Fetim’s daughter started to talk about slavery in the camps. It was then that things ...

PRESS RELEASE

29 September 2012 STOLEN to show at the International Amazigh Film Festival in Agadir, Morocco. By Violeta Ayala and Daniel Fallshaw It’s been 5 years since we were in North Africa filming STOLEN and we’re very proud to return to the region to present the film at the International Amazigh Film Festival in ...

Robbed of Truth

  Last night in Australia, the self described Australian Documentary Forum, 'Ozdox' screened a film titled 'Robbed of Truth' made by Carlos Gonzalez at the AFTRS theatre in Sydney. ‘Robbed of Truth', sets about to prove we fabricated a story of slavery in the Sahara. That we lied, bribed and cheated people ...

Review – ‘Stolen’: Seeing More Possibilities

By Cynthia Fuchs 5 April 2011 PopMatters Film and TV Editor You can’t change these ideas until you get out and see other possibilities. —Tizlam “Is it true my white grandmother beat you as a child?” asks 15-year-old Leil, Her mother, ...

Interview with the directors

Stolen: Shining a Light on Modern Day Slavery by Rahul Chadha, April 07, 2011 The morality issue at play in the film Stolen is Manichean in its clarity—slavery is unarguably one of the ...

Watch the trailer

Australian filmmakers Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw go to the Polisario governed refugee camps in the Algerian desert to make a film about a family reunion. Everything changes when the black Saharawis start to talk about a different subject...Their freedom.

Awards

Stolen has won 14 awards around the world, from Best Documentary at the Pan African Film Festival in LA to the Grand Prix at the Art of the Document in Poland. Best Feature Documentary 2010 - Pan African Film Festival, ...

Screenings

New York African Film Festival 8th and 12th April 2011 Stolen NY premiere at the NY African Film Festival @ the Lincoln Centre Stolen @ NYAFF   Stranger Than Fiction @ IFC, New York 5th April 2011 Sneak preview of Stolen in NY ...

Response to SVT-UR pulling STOLEN off air.

As a filmmaker it was disturbing to find out today via the Swedish press, that the Swedish public broadcaster SVT-UR, who purchased the rights for STOLEN more than a year ago, then cut the film into a TV hour, made their own translations and advertised to broadcast it on March ...

Review on About.com

Stolen - Movie Review of Stolen - 2009 Following A Story as It Unfolds About.com 4 Star Rating By Jennifer Merin, About.com Guide Stolen is a perfect example of a documentary that started out to tell one story and wound up presenting quite another. While documenting the efforts of ...

Video Stories

Origins of STOLEN In September 2006, with the co-operation of the Polisario, we went to the camps to make a film about a family reunion. After 10 days of being introduced by Polisario officials to women who were to take part in a ...

Interview with UNHCR, Ursula Aboubacar

Interview with UN in 2007 clearly stating they are aware slavery exists in the Polisario refugee camps and the surrounding territory, including Western Sahara. This video is made available because of accusations made by the interviewee that we manipulated her interview.

Matala’s message to the world

Matala is a character in Stolen. He lives in the Polisario refugee camps in Algeria. He traveled 1,800 km overland from the refugee camps to Mauritania to tell us how slavery is affecting the lives of his family and his people. This ...

The Controversy

"In the case of Stolen, the film that proved to be the most controversial at this year's Sydney Film Festival, the creators have had to endure detention, international criticism and public scrutiny after the featured family in the film withdrew their support for the film's claims."

Subscribe Scroll to Top