Theme-based programmes & specials
Apart from recurrent competition and 'the best of' programmes, the festival presents a number of annual theme-based programmes. This year’s topics include the Arab Spring, gay rights, a retrospective of the work by Czech filmmaker Petr Lom and various films on the subject of migration.
Furthermore, audiences can enjoy live music, expositions and the moves that matter party.
migration
Why do we expel refugees who could be of great value to our country? The Migration programme includes five films on the refugee issue in the Netherlands and (far) abroad: Offside, Special Flight, Yoole, the Sacrifice, Il Castello and Refugees: Who Needs Them.
The country that has the strictest immigration laws in Europe served as the backdrop for this year’s opening film Special Flight, about detention centre Frambois near Geneva, Switzerland, where asylum seekers whose cases have been closed and illegal immigrants are awaiting their deportation… on a special flight.
arab spring
More than a fight for democracy and freedom, the Arab Spring seems to be the occasion for numerous women in the Arab world to raise awareness about their own rights. Under the header Arab Spring: The S(h)equel, the festival hosts a theme-based programme in tribute to these brave women; Cairo 678, Circumstance, Et maintenant on va où, The Light in her Eyes, Love Crimes in Kabul, La Source des Femmes and Zero Silence. On Saturday 24 March, women’s rights take centre stage with the e-activism workshop, Storytelling and the ‘Café Arabica’ talk show with a panel of international guests.
gypsy sunday afternoon
On Sunday 25 March, the festival devotes an afternoon to the documentary Our School by Romanian filmmaker Mona Nicoara. Besides film and debate, a musical world premiere will be on the menu: the presentation of a new album produced by Amnesty International: Listen to Roma rights.
Move further into the gypsy realm on this Sunday afternoon with the live performance of 7-headed gypsy band Kal from Belgrade.
gay rights are our pride
COC Netherlands and Amnesty International introduce the Pride Fund, a new alliance to support gay activists from countries where homosexuality is banned and where sexual minorities face human rights violations.
The fund will be officially launched on Monday 26 March, after the screening of the documentary East Block Love. Other films shown as part of the Gay Rights theme include The Invisible Men and Circumstance.
Symposium Human Rights: Ideal Illusions?
On Monday March 26th, at 14:00 hrsthe second International symposium on human rights: Human Rights: Ideal Illusions? will take place at Theater aan het Spui in The Hague. Click here for more information.
Click here to read the lecture by James Peck.
Click here to read the lecture by Marianne Maeckelbergh.
hiv/aids
The HIV/AIDS programme contains Sinners’ Disease, Little Heaven and Together, three documentaries from three corners of the world, dealing with the ignorance, the discrimination and above all the lack of transparency that surrounds HIV and AIDS. On Monday 26 March, a theme-based programme will be linked to these films, including a debate following Sinners' Disease in which moderator Simone Weimans discusses the matter with Sasha Volgina, the activist featured in the film, director Jan Jaap Kuiper and Anke van Dam, the director of AIDS Foundation East-West.
petr lom retrospective
Petr Lom (1968, Prague) is an independent and autodidactic filmmaker, who likes to take charge of things himself. Not only does he direct his documentaries, but he also shoots, produces and edits them. The festival devotes a retrospective to Lom’s work, including Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan, Letters to the President and On a Tightrope. This year’s edition of the Movies that Matter Festival also features Lom’s latest film Back to the Square.
On Friday March 23rd Peter Lom will host a Masterclass.
harvest 2011
Seven special human rights films from 2011 return to the big screen one last time, after film fans were given the opportunity to vote for their favourite ‘movies that matter’ through our web site.
The following films have been selected: Black Butterflies, Circumstance, In a Better World, Incendies, Route Irish, Tropa de Elite 2 and The Whistleblower. All films have Dutch subtitling.
the idfa selection
Just like the IDFA has its Movies that Matter day, the Movies that Matter Festival in The Hague features highlights from the latest IDFA edition. This year’s programme consists of 5 Broken Camera’s, Big Boys Gone Bananas*, Bitter Seeds, Cinema Jenin, Give Up Tomorrow, In My Mothers Arms, Justice for Sale, The Light in her Eyes, Little Heaven, Putin’s Kiss, Raising Resistance, The Redemption of General Butt Naked, Sing Your Song and Together.
