Christopher Nolan Faces Backlash For Filming ‘The Odyssey’ In Disputed Western Sahara

Filmmaker Accused of Unknowingly Fueling “Brutal Repression” in UN-Classified “Non-Self-Governing” Territory. Human Rights Groups Urge Production Halt, Highlighting Impact on Indigenous Sahrawi Population

July 30, 2025: Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated epic, The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon and Tom Holland, has encountered an early snag, receiving substantial controversy for its choice to film in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Some people say that the production is helping to “brutal repression” in the area, even if they don’t mean to.

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is causing a stir since it was filmed in the disputed Western Sahara.
People have criticized filmmaker Christopher Nolan for filming scenes of his Homeric adaptation near the seaside city of Dakhla in Western Sahara. The United Nations calls this area “non-self-governing,” and Morocco controls 70% of it. The political situation there has been a long-standing international issue. Reports say that Nolan’s crew recorded in the area for four days earlier this month.

Last week, once the shooting in Dakhla was over, the Western Sahara International Film Festival (FiSahara) put out a strong statement telling Nolan to stop making the movie. “Dakhla isn’t only a pretty place with movie-like sand dunes. “The city is mostly occupied and militarized, and the native Sahrawi people are brutally repressed by Moroccan forces that are occupying it,” the festival’s statement said.

María Carrión, the Executive Director of FiSahara, went on to say more about the festival’s worries: “By filming part of The Odyssey in an occupied territory that Reporters Without Borders calls a ‘news black hole,’ Nolan and his team are, perhaps unknowingly and unwillingly, helping Morocco’s repression of the Sahrawi people and the Moroccan regime’s efforts to make its occupation of Western Sahara seem normal.”

FiSahara said that Nolan and his team would be “horrified” if they knew what it meant to film such a well-known movie in a place where the native people can’t make their own movies because they are under occupation. The event drew attention to Morocco’s supposed habit of taking Sahrawi cultural expressions and making movies that show Western Sahara as Moroccan, while Sahrawi filmmakers are being persecuted for making movies about their own life.

Famous actor Javier Bardem, who has been to FiSahara before, openly backed the event by posting its statement on Instagram. As of now, neither Universal Pictures, the studio that made the movie, nor Christopher Nolan have said anything about the dispute in public.

The Odyssey, based on Homer’s epic poetry, will tell the story of Odysseus, the legendary ruler of Ithaca, and his dangerous journey home after the Trojan War. The movie has a lot of famous actors in it, like Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland as his son Telemachus, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, and Elliot Page. The movie is set to be out on July 17, 2026.