Theme-based programmes & specials

Workshop Joshua Oppenheimer

Former leaders of Indonesian death squads go fifty years back in time to play their role in the genocide in film scenes in the film  The Act of Killing. Director Joshua Oppenheimer has studies death squads and their victims for over ten years, which enables him to understand the subject like no other.

Joshua Oppenheimer will give an exclusive workshop at the Movies that Matter Festival, specifically aimed at film professionals, students and aficionados, and everyone who wants to know more about the making of this groundbreaking documentary.

Thursday 21 March 2013 at 4.15 pm in Theater aan het Spui 1

Entrance fee for the workshop: € 8.75 (€ 7.25 for student card) or on display of filmticket The Act of Killing a free workshop ticket can be picked up at the festival ticket offices (attention: timely reservation required!)

Workshop Kim Longinotto

British documentary maker Kim Longinotto has an unstoppable urge to denounce forms of injustice. Her latest documentary  Salma, is a poignant portrait of the well-known and homonymic Indian Tamil poet who spent twenty-five years of her life behind closed doors.

This year’s edition of the international Movies that Matter Festival raises awareness of Kim Longinotto’s oeuvre during a workshop on Saturday afternoon, aimed at film professionals, students and aficionados.

Saturday 23 March, 1.30 pm. Location: Filmhuis Den Haag 6

Entrance fee is 8.75€ (7.25€ for Student Card holders) or on display of filmticket of Salma a free workshop ticket can be picked up at the festival ticket offices (attention: timely reservation required!)

2013: Movies that Matter ◄► STALKER

Movies that Matter ◄► (meets) STALKER is an exchange programme between the Stalker International Film Festival in Moscow and the Movies that Matter Festival in the framework of the Netherlands-Russia Year, NLRF 2013. The Stalker Festival selected three Russian documentary films to be screened in The Hague; Winter, Go Away!, Tomorrow and 5 Minutes of Freedom. Read more about this programme.

Taco Ruighaver, director and programmer for the Movies that Matter Festival, will in turn be presenting three of his favourite human rights films from Dutch filmmakers in Moscow in December 2013.

Yes Naturally

Yes Naturally, an international art event in and around the Municipal Museum of The Hague, will run from 16 March to 16 August 2013. In a large-scale exhibition, more than 80 artists demonstrate surprising partnerships between people, nature and technology.

A number of films will be screened at the Movies that Matter Festival that are directly linked to the art manifestation, at the express request of the Yes Naturally curators. These are Black Out, Rafea: Solar Mama, Tea or Electricity and Last Call at the Oasis.

In the light of the worldwide celebration of World Water Day, there will be a special screening of last mentioned documentary on Friday March 22.

Retrospective on Pablo Larraín

In this year’s retrospective programme, the festival will be screening the majestic trilogy by Chilean director Pablo Larraín about the dark days living under the dictatorial regime of General Pinochet. Tony Manero, Post Mortem and No, the Oscar-nominated final film of the trilogy.
Pablo Larraín (1976) shows in this trilogy that he is a masterful chronicler of the Pinochet era, which lasted from 1973 to 1990.

'in this world' and theme programmes

The festival’s panorama programme is named after the 2002 feature film by Michael Winterbottom. The programme encompasses an overview of recent highlights and award-winning films from international film festivals and sneak previews with Dutch subtitles.
Besides the various main programmes, the festival presents a varying numer of  'topic and region' related theme programmes. Click here  for more information about this year's themes.

harvest 2012

Harvest shows highlights from recent cinema: seven feature films which are subtitled in Dutch. Film fans were given the opportunity to vote for their favourite ‘movies that matter’ through our web site.

This year’s selection includes Le Havre, Rebelle, Jagten, Just the Wind, Angelina Jolie’s The Land of Blood and Honey, The Patience Stone and No.

the idfa selection

Movies that Matter is a partner in IDFA, the biggest and most prestigious documentary festival in the world. Just as IDFA has a Movies that Matter Afternoon, the Movies that Matter Festival will be showing highlights from the latest IDFA edition. This year's IDFA Selection consists of the documentaires: Blackout,, Camp 14: Total Control Zone, Even a Bird Needs a Nest,  Forbidden Voices, High Tech, Low Life, Last Call at the Oasis, One Day after Peace, Rafea Solar Mama,  De Sekspolitie, Soldier on the Roof, Tomorrow  Winter Go Away.