Competition

Dutch Focus

With the Dutch Focus competition, we create space for the Dutch film landscape and shine a spotlight on filmmakers from the Dutch film sector who, with courage and craftsmanship, tell stories about human rights, freedom, and social justice within and beyond the Netherlands.

On the Award Night, the Dutch Focus Award and €5,000 prize money will be presented to the director of the winning film.

Dutch Focus is made possible by VEVAM, copyright organisation for directors.

Winner 2026: Tussen broers

Jury report: “We were united as a jury in our admiration for a personal story well told. A portrait of two men, who endure an unpredictable and difficult childhood of abandonment together, but remain steadfastly committed to each other throughout their adult lives. This film is given an additional layer of intriguing complexity through a subtle provocation that asks us to consider how abnormal and strange our ideas of a ‘normal life’ might be. Director Tom Fassaert’s delicate exploration of how familial trauma spirals down through the generations, is a well-narrated account of the ties that bind us, in often inscrutable and unforeseen ways, and how we try to loosen their restrictive consequences.”

A special mention in the ‘Dutch Focus’ competition was awarded to Gedwongen Geloften by Eva Strating and Roxanne Herder.

Nominations

Gedwongen Geloften

Documentary about sexual violence and forced marriage, focusing on women who were coerced, abducted or imprisoned by their own families. Central figure is Dutch-Pakistani human rights activist Shirin Musa (Femmes for Freedom), tirelessly fighting for their rights.   Forced marriage, being trapped in a marriage that was...

Indische Tafel, jongens van de Japanse Kampen

A group of men in their nineties gather weekly for an Indonesian lunch. They look back on their Indonesian childhood, something they’ve never spoken about. Several of them were imprisoned in Japanese internment camps in Indonesia during World War II, and they share their memories and their parents’ diary entries. After...

Paikar

Afghan artist-filmmaker Dawood Hilmandi returns home from Amsterdam after suffering a great loss to restore his relationship with his aging, authoritarian father. But has the gap between father and son grown too wide to bridge? Afghan artist-filmmaker Dawood Hilmandi is called paikar – the Persian word for ‘war’ or ‘w...

Soldier’s Bones

In 1971, young Newsweek reporter Alec Shimkin discovered a secret US military campaign that committed war crimes on an enormous scale in the Mekong Delta. It was code-named Operation Speedy Express. Following the 1968 My Lai massacre on Vietnamese civilians, Alec believed this “Super My Lai” also had to be exposed.For ...

Truly Naked

When porn has become the norm, intimacy is the new taboo. Introverted teenager Alec only experiences intimacy through the lens working for his father’s pornography business. When a classmate challenges him to embrace real connection, he’s forced to step out from behind the camera. Alec, a soft-spoken, introverted teen...

Tussen broers

Elderly brothers Rob and René – father and uncle of filmmaker Tom Fassaert – cannot live with, but also not without each other. René lives like a recluse in a cluttered, congested house, his brother Rob intervenes. But then Tom begins to suspect that something else lies beneath the dynamic between the brothers. Filmma...

Voix Invisibles

A visual poem by Bart van den Aardweg on alienation, pain, and the search for meaning in the shadows. How does trauma embed itself in silence? How does a person become disconnected from the world outside, and turn to violence as the only way out?   Voix Invisibles is a psychological journey into the minds of angry, dis...

The Winning Generation

Filmed over a decade, 14-year-old Armenian activist Shahen Harutyunyan grows into a rising political leader. While he fights to reshape Armenia’s democratic future and counter Russian influence, he also carries the weight of his father and grandfather – legends of the Armenian struggle for freedom. Shahen Harutyunyan ...

Jury

Julie Trébault

Julie Trébault is the Executive Director of ARC – Artists at Risk Connection, a global organization dedicated to safeguarding artistic freedom and supporting artists and cultural workers under threat worldwide. Under her leadership, ARC has provided critical support to more than 2,300 artists and cultural workers across over 85 countries facing persecution by state and non-state actors, enabling them to continue their creative work despite severe risks to their safety and artistic freedom. Julie is a frequent speaker at major international art and human rights convenings, including the Geneva International Film Festival & Forum on Human Rights, Documenta, and WOMEX. Her commentary on artistic freedom and cultural rights has appeared in the Guardian, New York Times, Libération, The Art Newspaper, Hyperallergic, and the Associated Press, among others. artistsatriskconnection.org

Ondřej Kamenický

Ondřej Kamenický is the Director of One World International Human Rights Film Festival. One World is held in Prague and other 60 cities and towns in the Czech Republic, shows documentaries and fiction films on human rights, social, political, environmental and media issues and includes Q&As, panel debates, virtual reality events, social impact projects, screenings for schools, East Doc Platform for film industry. One World distributes films, assists to new festivals (e.g. in Nicaragua, Hong Kong, Costa Rica, Armenia), focuses on people with disabilities, is an active member of Human Rights Film Network and Green Film Network, International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk and organizes also One World in Brussels.

Rohan Berry Crickmar

Rohan Berry Crickmar is a development producer, documentary producer, festival &industry events producer and S&D specialist, based in Ireland. He has produced or co-produced the documentary features LOST FOR WORDS (Dir: Hannah Papacek Harper, Premiered CPH: DOX 2025) and REALITY IS NOT ENOUGH (Dir: Paul Sng, Premiered at EdinburghIFF 2025), and the EdinburghIFF 2025 premiering documentary COMMUNITY THEATRE (Dir: Lewis Baillie) and EdinburghIFF 2022 premiering documentary THE TOMORROW THAT’LL COME (Dir: Carla Shah). He has also worked on television projects with Canal+ and Warner Bros and commercial documentaries with Christian Dior, among others. Currently he is consulting on the debut documentary feature OUR IMAGINED ISLANDS of Croatian filmmaker Ana Grgić. He works with the following festivals: Dublin IFF and Lightdox International Sales.