The Producers

Simon Stanford - Director

Simon Stanford is a South African / Swedish documentary film director, cinematographer and journalist who has filmed and produced news reports, documentaries and films from virtually every corner of the world - though his primary focus is on Africa. He is now part of the senior production team at Swedish Documentary Production Company, Deep Sea Productions. He has previously worked for many of the world’s major television newsrooms, including BBC, American NBC, Canadian CBC and Swedish
SVT. He now focuses on directing and producing feature documentaries.

Making The Film

Director Simon Stanford on location

Sahara Prison survivor Johan Gustafsson on location

More about Sahara Prison

It was supposed to be an adventurous motorcycle journey through Africa. Johan Gustafsson, then a 36-year-old engineer, left his girlfriend behind and set of with a friend to see the con-tinent. His biggest concern was traffic accidents until he and group of fellow travellers took a fateful decision to make a diversion to the legendary city of Timbuktu.

Twenty-four hours later, Johan and two other tourists were forced at gunpoint into the back of a pickup truck. A fourth man, a German tourist, resisted and was brutally shot to death on the spot. That was the beginning of an almost six-year ordeal for Johan Gustafsson, who was held for ransom in the Sahara by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, until he was freed in June 2017.

Sahara Prison tells Johan’s compelling story with exclusive footage and a personal testimony of the brutal life in the inner circle of Al Qeada. The film explores the hundred-billion- dollar industry behind the people-smuggling and kidnapping business. It reveals the driving force be-hind the toxic mix of crime and jihad that is destabilising a vast swathe of Africa and the Middle East and threatening the security of every one of us

.Johan Gustafsson shares the details of his daily life in captivity for the first time. During the first harrowing months in the desert, he and the others were blindfolded, bound and moved count-less times. The threat of execution hung over them. Four months into captivity, the hostages made a strategic decision to convert to Islam. “It was to save my life,” he said. After the conver-sion, they were no longer isolated and shackled, but new and unexpected problems arose.

It’s also a very personal account of the nightmare when friends become enemies and enemies your closest allies. About dramatic attempts to escape into the vast desert. And how every step became a step closer to the one you left behind. The question hanging over him year after year: Is she waiting for me?

“I would like to thank everyone“ said Johan in rusty Swedish as he looked directly into the camera on the day after his homecoming. His long straggly beard and haggard face betrayed the horror of the ordeal he had endured.