wideangle tonight

heya crew. nina’s latest:

This week on [wideangle]: Sahara Marathon

Our Olympic-season special!

Thursday, August 19, at 9 PM*

PBS stations nationwide

[wideangle] offers a rare look at a unique annual marathon run through the brutal landscape of the Sahara Desert in the hope of drawing attention to the plight of the Sahrawi people, who have been waiting for over two decades to reclaim Western Sahara.

Torn by years of bitter guerilla warfare fought against Moroccoís annexation of Western Sahara in 1976, the Sahrawi are still waiting for the referendum on sovereignty promised in a UN-brokered cease-fire over a decade ago. The story focuses on two competitors — Abdullah, a Sahrawi self-trained runner determined to win the race for his people, and Jorge Aubeso, a top Spanish athlete sympathetic to the cause — who race through brutal heat and infamous sirocco sandstorms with winds up to 60 mph.

Our filmmakers uncover the all-but-forgotten story of 165,000 people who sense that the global spotlight is no longer theirs and fear that their problem may never be resolved without a return to armed conflict.

by teru kuwayama at 2004-08-19 08:12:57 UTC (ed. Jun 24 2006 ) | Bookmark | | Report spam→