14 Kilómetros (14 Kilometers) (2007)

Adoum Moussa, Illiassou Mahamadou Alzouma, Aminata Kanta

Three people looking for a better life become stranded in the desert with little hope of survival in this drama from Spain. Buba (Adoum Moussa) is an auto repairman living in Niger with his brother Mu... read more kela (Illiassou Mahamadou Alzouma); their village is mired in poverty, and given Buba's talent as a football player, they decide to travel to Spain, where they believe Buba might have a shot at playing as a professional. Unable to travel legally into Europe, Buba and Mukela pay a smuggler $1,000 each for passage in the back of a panel truck into Algeria, where the can easily pass into Spain. En route, Buba and Mukela meet Violeta (Aminata Kanta), a teenage girl from Mali who is escaping an arranged marriage with a man she hates. During the trip into Algeria, the three begin to have doubts about the smugglers, and their fears become reality when they're dumped in the desert fourteen kilometers from their destination. Buba, Mukela and Violeta are told that they're only a four hour walk away from their destination, but without navigation tools they finds themselves lost in the sandy plains with no idea of how to make their way to civilization. 14 Kilometros (aka 14 Kilometers) was honored as best film at the 2007 Valladolid Film Festival in Spain. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi