Are you organising a human rights film event, festival or mobile cinema project and still looking for funding? Apply for the next round of our grant programme to give your project the necessary boost.

For this second selection round of 2021, organisations in Southeast Asia are especially invited to apply (Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam).

See if your project meets the basic criteria for funding and make sure to apply before Wednesday 15 September 2021.

Movies that Matter was this year’s Festival Partner of Honor at the Beyond Borders Festival on the Greek island of Kastellorizo.

We presented the film Mayor (David Osit, 2020), gave a masterclass on Film & Impact and were part of the Pitching Lab. During the Pitching Lab, twenty upcoming film projects from all over the world were presented to the five panellists.

I Used to Be a Mayor by Alex Sussmann, a film about the former mayor of Budapest, was chosen as the lab winner. As the winner, Alex has been invited to the Movies that Matter Festival 2022 to further develop his film. A special mention went to the Greek project My Grandmother’s Sister by Eleni Kavouki about a woman who was forced to fight during the Greco-Albanian war in the last century.

At the end of August we wrapped up Cinema without Borders Southeast Asia! Together with the Active Vista Film Festival in the Philippines we organised a five-day online workshop programme for human rights film festival organisers from Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The interactive programme focused on the goals and objectives of human rights film festivals, programming films, transforming to online and hybrid festivals and also included sessions on security and censorship. Many guest speakers from film festivals in the region and organisations like Engage Media, Artist at Risk Connection, Ashoka and Forum Asia gave inspiring talks and presentations. Among the participants fresh ideas were shared, new connections were made and networks were built.

We look forward to cooperating with the participants’ festivals in the future!

Director Nikolay Stefanov and producer Ralitsa Golemanova received the Movies that Matter Award at the DOCU Rough Cut Boutique of the Sarajevo Film Festival. Their film No Place for You in Our Town tries to investigate what hides underneath the violent façade of a local gang from a decaying ex-mining town in Bulgaria. As the winners, Nikolay and Ralitsa are invited to participate in the Industry Days at the Movies that Matter Festival 2022.