After the festival was cancelled in 2020 and out of necessity online in 2021, we are very happy to welcome you back in the movie theatre!

This year’s Movies that Matter Festival – the international film festival about human rights – will take place from Friday 8 to Saturday 16 April in The Hague (Pathé Buitenhof and Filmhuis Den Haag), online and at satellite locations throughout the country. We present more than eighty special feature films, high-profile documentaries and shorts, with an extensive in-depth programme.

It is our great pleasure to invite you – also on behalf of main partner the National Postcode Lottery – to four special film evenings at the Movies that Matter Festival 2022. 

Below you find more information. Would you like to attend one or more evenings? Please let us know by Monday 28 March at the latest via the button below. 

On Friday 8 April, the festival opens with the Dutch premiere of Navalny. In this award-winning documentary, director Daniel Roher tells the blood-curdling story of the 2020 assassination attempt on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and the search for the perpetrators. Navalny won the Audience Award: US Documentary and the Festival Favorite Award at the Sundance Film Festival 2022.

Our chair Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You will open the evening. Filmmaker Daniel Roher will attend, as well as some of the main characters close to Navalny for a post-screening discussion led by NOS correspondent Kysia Hekster.

Friday 8 April at 20.00 hrs., Pathé Buitenhof.  It is no longer possible to register for this evening.

During the Activist Night on Tuesday 12 April, film and activism take center stage. The activists from the eight films are present this evening and are put in the spotlight. The directors of the films also attend. Prior to the screening of the documentary Eternal Spring (長春), journalist and presenter Natasja Gibbs will talk with activist Daxiong and director Jason Loftus. Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra opens the Activist Night.

Eternal Spring (長春) tells the exciting and emotional story of a group of Falun Gong members who briefly took over Chinese state television. A story of unprecedented courage and life under totalitarian rule. Animation and documentary are ingeniously combined, with breathtaking results. 

Tuesday 12 April at 20.00 hrs., Pathé Buitenhof.

The Dutch Movies Matter programme focuses on Dutch feature films and documentaries. As different as they are, they have one thing in common: they focus their lens on social abuses and human dignity. On Wednesday 13 April we welcome you to the Dutch Movies Matter Night. We will screen Along the Way by filmmaker Mijke de Jong: a moving film about Afghan twins Fatima and Zahra who are separated from their families on their refugee journey. While their mother and sisters are granted asylum in the Netherlands, they have to survive in Istanbul. 

The guests this evening are protagonists Malihe and Nahid Rezaie, on whose story the film is based, and filmmaker Mijke de Jong. Presentation: programme maker Ikenna Azuike. 

Wednesday 13 April at 20.00 hrs., Pathé Buitenhof. 

During the Camera Justitia Night on Thursday 14 April, justice and the law are central. We will screen the documentary Myanmar Diaries, a hybrid collective film about life in the aftermath of the military coup in Myanmar in February 2021. Short films by ten young anonymous filmmakers are combined with footage from brave civilian journalists, filmed in the streets of Myanmar.

Jury chairman and counsellor Bart Stapert will introduce the film. After the screening, representatives of the Myanmar Film Collective and legal experts will discuss the current situation in Myanmar, moderated by Leila Prnjavorac.  

Thursday 14 April at 20.00 hrs., Pathé Buitenhof.  

This invitation is strictly personal. Applications are handled in order of receipt. You will receive the e-tickets by email. For more information, please contact aanmelding@moviesthatmatter.nl.