George Lucas, the director of Star Wars, visited the region around Nefta in 1976 to film the external scenes for Episode IV, A New Hope. It was for the film The Phantom Menace (second trilogy) that the village where the character Anakin Skywalker grew up was built in 1995. Consisting of small houses and arcades made from pasteboard, the set is still in reasonably good condition despite the sandstorms which occasionally sweep through the region.