Debate following a screening at the Leids Film Festival
Other events
Together with a wide array of social and cultural institutions, as well as educational establishments and individuals, Movies that Matter organises film screenings followed by expansion programmes.
The human rights films are an excellent way to bring across the mission and field work of various social organisations, and can in many cases seamlessly match the programme of any cultural organisation.
Below you will find an overview of upcoming events and events that have been staged over the past months.
Do you wish to stage a human rights film event? Then please contact us at info@moviesthatmatter.nl
arab spring at the humanity house
On 15 December, at the occasion of the presentation of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to five activists from the Middle East, the European Parliament, together with the Humanity House in the Hague, screened ‘Arab Spring’ documentary Tahrir 2011 The Good, The Bad and the Politician. The film sheds light on the revolution and the Egyptian society under the reign of Hosni Mubarak from three different perspectives. The screening was followed by a debate with former MEP Lousewies van der Laan and half-Egyptian writer and political scientist Monique Samuel.
Night of Foreign Journalism
At the ‘Avond van de Buitenlandjournalistiek’ (Night of Foreign Journalism, a ‘Lokaal Mondiaal’ initiative), which took place on 29 November, Movies that Matter screened the documentary Reporter, that follows Nicholas D. Kristof, a well-known journalist who works for The New York Times, as he visits the Democratic Republic of Congo. Apart from highlighting an underexposed conflict in Africa, the film makes a plea in favour of decent journalism. The purpose of the event was to stir debate about past, present and future foreign journalism. Foreign journalist Harm Ede Botje, who writes for the Dutch weekly Vrij Nederland, exposed the criteria defined by the United Nations and the choices journalists have to make accordingly.
Internatonal Children's Day
On 18 November, the Child Rights Home in Leiden showed the film The Colors of the Mountain to mark the International Children’s Day. The film portrays the lives of nine-year-old Manuel and his friends in a mountain village in Colombia, where guerrilla fighters and paramilitary troops spread death and destruction among the local population. A knowledgeable guest speaker led an expansion programme in which the film’s context and the situation of children’s rights in Colombia were exposed.
Migration Issues in the picture
On 2 November, Cineblend (an initiative of the ‘Beeld voor Beeld’ festival) hosted a film and debate event dealing with media representation of migration issues. Based on fragments from the films Illegal and Surprising Europe, the following guests had an exchange of ideas concerning Dutch asylum policy in general and the detention of migrants and asylum seekers in particular: Rogier Kappers, anthropologist and director of Surprising Europe, Christian Nana, who was portrayed in the TV series Surprising Europe, and Annemarie Busser, policy officer for migration matters at the Dutch section of Amnesty International.
The fallen angel
On 17 October, the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), the city of Utrecht and Movies that Matter screened De gevallen Engel (The Fallen Angel) at the occasion of the International Day against Human Trafficking. The documentary zooms in on Eastern European Tatjana who has come to the Netherlands in the footsteps of her “loverboy”. After reporting abuse she had to wait several years for the ministry of Justice to decide on her case. The screening was followed by a debate with Brenda Oude-Breuil, who works as a professor of Criminology at the University of Utrecht.
cinema for peace
On 25 August, Movies that Matter, together with Cinema for Peace, screened the documentary Children of War, which follows a group of former child soldiers in a rehabilitation centre in northern Uganda during three years. The event marked the final declaration of the International Criminal Court in the trial against Congolese rebel leader Thomas Lubanga.
The screening was attended by director Bryan Single, former child soldier and rap artist Emmanuel Jall, as well as representatives of the International Criminal Court.
