To promote the screenings of human rights cinema worldwide, Movies that Matter offers grants to human rights film events in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, especially in countries with limited resouces and where freedom of press is at stake.

Are you still looking for funding? The first round of our grant programme for 2023 is open for project proposals. Submit your project before 31 April 2023.

With a big smile and full of pride, we look back on a successful Movies that Matter Festival 2023! In nine days we screened over 90 documentary and fiction (short) films, and put together countless inspiring introductions, Q&As, masterclasses, workshops and debates. We are already looking forward to the next festival edition, which will take place from Friday 22 March to Saturday 30 March 2024. From 1 June 2023, submissions for the MtMF24 will open.

Which films took home an award at the festival? Take a look at the eight winners and read the jury reports:

Grand Jury Documentary Award
Theatre of Violence (Lukasz Konopa, Emil Langballe)

Grand Jury Fiction Award
Dalva (Emmanuelle Nicot)

Activist Documentary Award
Seven Winters in Tehran (Steffi Niederzoll)

Camera Justitia Award
Twice Colonized (Lin Alluna)

Dutch Movies Matter Award
Mijn grote broer (Mercedes Stalenhoef)

Shorts Award
Haulout (Evgenia Arbugaeva en Maxim Arbugaev)

Students’ Choice Award
The Kings of the World (Laura Mora Ortega)

The documentary Aurora’s Sunrise (Inna Sahakyan) won the Audience Award.  

At the Movies that Matter Festival 2023, ten human rights film festival organisers from Tanzania, Iraq, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Myanmar, Georgia, Lebanon and Azerbaijan joined the Cinema without Borders programme. In five days they attended interactive workshop and networking sessions on all the aspects of organising a human rights film festival. A lot of best practices, ideas and inspiration were shared to improve the impact of the festivals for the future. Keep an eye on the website for the next edition!

In the Take on Film & Impact programme at the MtMF23 twelve teams participated in both group and individual coaching sessions led by experienced impact producers and strategists in order to (further) develop their impact goals and strategies for their films. At the end of the programme each team pitched their project in front of a panel of NGOs, distributors and other changemakers related to the outreach goals of the projects. To conclude the Take on Film & Impact programme several awards were handed out to participating teams.

Thanks to all the participants and to all our partners for making this programme possible!​ We wish all teams the best of luck with their film releases and impact plans.

The Movies that Matter Festival 2023 was made possible by main partner Nationale Postcode Loterij and partners Amnesty International, ASN Bank, CFAP, Creative Europe Media, Dioraphte, Gemeente Den Haag, European Cultural Foundation, Fonds 1818, Fonds 21, Janivo, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nederlands Filmfonds, Oak Foundation, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, dagblad Trouw, de Versterking, vfonds, VEVAM and VSBfonds.