This summer, Movies that Matter and beach bar Het Puntje are presenting a mini film festival at the southernmost tip of Scheveningen! From 31 July to 2 August, you are welcome at De Komma, the charming annex of Het Puntje, for three evenings filled with thought-provoking films. Each evening will be dedicated to a film that invites reflection, conversation and connection.

Our grant programme is proud to support a dynamic and diverse lineup of film festivals and initiatives this year, each harnessing the power of cinema to spark dialogue, inspire change, and amplify marginalised voices across the globe. From solar-powered mobile screenings in Zimbabwean communities to a Queer Film Festival honoring LGBTQIA+ stories in Nepal’s capital, these projects showcase the vital role cinema can play in fostering social justice and community empowerment.

Along with other Dutch nationals Halina Reijn, Victoria Warmerdam, Trent and Nina Gantz, Margje de Koning, artistic director of Movies that Matter, has been invited to join the organisation that awards the Oscars every year.

20 June is World Refugee Day. As the asylum debate intensifies in the Netherlands and millions of people around the world are fleeing war and oppression, it is more important than ever to keep listening and seeing each other.

In the brand new Movies that Matter podcast we dive deep into the stories, people and human rights issues behind the films screened at our festival. In this first episode we share a conversation with Tommy Gulliksen, the director of the film Facing War, recorded live in The Hague at our 2025 festival. The conversation was moderated by Nicole Sprokel, former Senior Political Affairs Officer at Amnesty International Netherlands.

In Burkina Faso, a country grappling with conflict, displacement, and deep uncertainty, filmmaker and film festival organiser Abdoulaye Diallo has chosen the camera as his tool of resistance - and the film festival as a stage for hope. We spoke with him about his view on films in relation to human rights and how the Human Rights Film Network offers a sense of solidarity to other human rights film festival organizers.

What does war do to the people who didn't choose it - but end up in the middle of it? And how do you hold a shaky world order together before things really go wrong? During the Just Peace Festival 2025, in the run-up to the NATO summit in The Hague, Movies that Matter joins forces with PAARD, Flora Filmtheater and Theatre and Filmhuis Dakota with a specially curated film series under the title NATO Film Week, showing the complexity of war and keeping the peace. Four totally different films, with totally different perspectives, together paint one telling picture of these times.

Sarah Mpapuluu is the Festival Coordinator and Co-Founder behind the Under Our Skin International Film Festival on Human Rights in Kenya, which has been spotlighting powerful stories since receiving its first start-up grant from Movies that Matter in 2020. Now four editions in, the festival continues to grow as a platform for dialogue and change.