Known as the seventh art, cinema has become a platform for the Sahrawi people to share their stories in the desert refugee camps where they have lived for more than 40 years.

As dusk arrived Oct. 12, Sahrawi refugees and their guests from across the world mingled in the dusty streets of Algeria’s Dakhla camp, ready to partake in the traditional gala that kicked off the 13th annual Western Sahara International Film Festival, or FiSahara.

The event, known as the world’s most remote film festival, featured dozens of movies in a four-day screening lineup that included a strong presence of Sahrawi-made films produced in an audiovisual school the festival founded five years ago.

Omar Ahmed is the director of Abidin Kaid Saleh institution, an audiovisual school in the Boujdour camp. He first began taking photos as a hobby when he was living in El Aaiun in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Later he joined the army of the Polisario Front, the Sahrawi liberation movement, to document the 15 years of guerrilla battles his people undertook to seek independence from Morocco.