14 Kilometers

Colour, 35 mm
Spain, 2007, 95 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

14 kilometres is the distance that separates Africa from Europe. It is also, however, the height of an insurmountable barrier preventing millions of Africans from fulfilling their dreams, entering the paradise of the old continent and escaping hunger and deprivation... In 2003 the director went to Nigeria to make a documentary about the caravans that transport salt across the Tenere Desert. He found himself on an important immigration route streaming with cargo lorries overloaded with immigrants, their cargo twice as large as the vehicles themselves. He met hundreds of people travelling in this way from Sub-Saharan Africa to Libya, Algiers and Morocco, from where they attempt to get to Europe. Many of these lorries disappear into the desert forever, lost without a trace. Olivares heard unbelievable tales of the fates of these passengers that seemed as if they did not even belong to this world... This story of three young Nigerians, Violeta, Buba and Mukela, pays homage to those who reached their destination and to those who failed. It takes us through a long and perilous journey across the Sahara, where we see what the media never shows us.

About the director

Gerardo Olivares (b. 1960, Córdoba, Spain) has travelled across the world and has become one of Spain’s most renowned documentary filmmakers. Since 1991, when he founded Transglobe Films, the first Spanish production company to focus on documentary filmmaking, he has been shooting for Canal+ and TVE and his films are also shown on the Discovery Channel and National Geographic. His documentaries include The Third Planet I – II, The Last Paradises, Tibet: Freedom in Exile and Famine in the World for My Son. Olivares’ Caravana (2005), the story of two children and two journeys, was made by Pedro Almodóvar’s production company El Deseo. His feature film debut, The Great Match (2006), was screened in Karlovy Vary. The next film, 14 Kilometers (2007), won the Golden Spike award at the festival in Valladolid. Sub-Saharan immigration is also the topic of his upcoming feature document Welcome to Paradise (Bienvenido al Paraíso).