themes & Specials

god save the queer

Together with Hivos-NCDO Cultuurfonds the festival presents GOD SAVE THE QUEER, a programme dealing with Religion and Gay Rights that includes screenings of Suddenly, Last Winter, Not Quite the Taliban, City of Borders, Eyes Wide Open and Milk.

Gay Monday will take place on 29 March. That evening, Jacobine Geel will lead a debate with bar owner, city town councillor and gay activist Sa'ar Netanel (City of Borders) and A Matter of ACT guests Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi (Suddenly Last Winter).

Prior to Gay Monday, the GOD SAVE THE QUEER films are screened in Amsterdam and Nijmegen.

moving

Many recently released films deal with various aspects of MIGRATION, especially migrant workers and refugees who come to Europe. A selection of these films, including IDFA 2009 winner Last Train Home, the documentary Long Distance Love and Eden is West, the latest film by famous politically engaged director Costa-Gavras, has made up the MOVING program.

Dutch Minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin will attend the screening of No Comment, a documentary about migrants in Calais, on Monday 29 March. Like a Man on Earth, finally, is a documentary about the extreme violence used against African migrants who try to reach Italy passing through Libya.

stop aid now

The STOP AID NOW programme naturally follows from Amnesty International's Demand Dignity campaign, featuring films and discussions about poverty, human dignity and what the nature of aid should be. Garapa gives a human face to the statistics about malnutrition. Google Baby paints a staggering picture of the market for babies on demand. Shirley Adams portrays poverty in South Africa, and Good Fortune shows how Nairobi's Kibera district is cleared to make way for new buildings.

idfa selection

Movies that Matter is a partner of IDFA, the biggest and most prominent documentary festival in the world. Just as the Amsterdam IDFA event has a ‘Movies that Matter' day, the Movies that Matter Festival in The Hague shows highlights from the latest IDFA edition - creative, engaged documentaries that have their premiere in The Hague.
This year's selection includes: Crude, Defamation, Good Fortune, Google Baby, Last Train Home, Mugabe and the White African, Petition, The Red Chapel, The Shock Doctrine, To Shoot an Elephant, Wagah, Weapon of War, Women in Shroud and The Yes Men Fix the World.

Harvest 2009

Have you missed out on a special human rights film at the cinema, or is there one you would like to see again on the big screen? Every day during the afternoon, one of the 2009 cinema highlights will be shown. Our selection for this year's festival is Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame, El Olvido, Il Divo, Milk, The Tribunal and Welcome, all of which will be subtitled in Dutch.

bahman ghobadi retrospective

Famous Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi is the main guest of this year's festival. His latest movie No One Knows About Persian Cats, about the underground music scene in Tehran, is the opening film of the festival. A retrospective will be dedicated to three of Ghobadi's earlier award-winning films: Turtles Can Fly, A Time for Drunken Horses and Half Moon.

leaving fear behind

A tribute screening of the short documentary Leaving Fear Behind by Tibetan amateur filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen will take place on Saturday 27 March in the afternoon. At the time of the festival Wangchen, will have spent exactly two years behind bars for making this film, which was intended to raise people's awareness about the situation in Tibet during the Olympic Games in Beijing. Followed by the screening of Kindness, a documentary by Clémentine Ederveen about Tsering Jampa, director of International Campaign for Tibet. Within the scope of this Tibet programme, the musical documentary Tibet in Song will be screened in the evening.

Amnesty International campaigns for Wangchen by an email campaign.

settled & shorts

Every year, the Movies that Matter Festival presents a programme of special shorts on the subject of human rights. This year's selection features Settled, the festival's closing film. Settled portrays 83-year-old Zheng Jingkang from China, who lived in captivity for 63 years. Other shorts in the programme include My Mother's Daughter, Declaration of Human Rights in Animation, Thorns and Silk and Wagah.

serious gaming

ZAAL5, the platform for image culture of the Filmhuis, presents the programme SERIOUS GAMING.
Serious gaming consists of games that deal with real-life topics, such as human rights, refugees and war. For example, the player has to somehow prevent genocide in Rwanda as a UN soldier, or cover the war in southern Sudan as a war correspondent. Is it morally responsible, however, to present such complex issues as entertainment? Read more

saved by youtube

Upload Cinema is an initiative to take the best films on the Internet to the big screen in various Dutch cities. In collaboration with the festival the programme Upload Cinema: Saved by YouTube was composed, in which people can submit their favourite short film dealing with activism on the Internet.
The best entries will be screened at the festival, the 1st of March in De Uitkijk Amsterdam, in Cinerama Rotterdam and in Filmhuis Den Haag and followed by a nationwide road show in April.

vara publieksmiddag

In collaboration with the festival, Dutch broadcaster VARA, one of the festival's main media partners, organizes the ‘VARAgids Publieksmiddag' (open afternoon) on Sunday 29 March. At mid-day, Bahman Gobadi's No One Knows About Persian Cats is screened, followed at 2 pm by the humoristic documenatry The Yes Men Fix the World. After both screenings, the audience can engage in discussions with, among others, the director of No One Knows About Persian Cats.

onzewereld middag

On Sunday 28 March, Magazine onzeWereld, One World, Amnesty International and the Movies that Matter Festival will organize a special afternoon dedicated to the documentary Good Fortune. After the screening of this film, which confronts the viewer with stereotypical ideas about rich and poor in the western world, a debate will take place on the Advisory Council on Government Policy (WRR)'s report advocating major development aid reforms. Various guests will participate in the debate. More information is to follow shortly.

double bills

Every year, the festival presents DOUBLE BILLS, a package of two films with similar themes and topics. Both films will be screened over a short time interval. Visitors to double bills benefit from a price reduction and pay only €12 for two entrance tickets.
More information about the double bills, click here.

movies that matter de luxe

The festival goes on tour... if the Hague is too far away.

Within the scope of MOVIES THAT MATTER DE LUXE, film theatre LUX in Nijmegen will be screening four festival films from the special programmes Save the Queer and Moving on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 March. These are: City of Borders & Not Quite the Taliban and Eden is West & Last Train Home. Some of the screenings will be followed by debates with various guests or Q&A sessions with the film makers. Go to www.lux.nl for more information.

theatre

On 16 March 2003, 23-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie was killed when she was run over by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip. The documentary Rachel about her life will have its Dutch premiere at the Movies that Matter Festival.
On the same day, the play My Name is Rachel Corrie, a monologue by Laura van Dolron, will be performed in Theater aan het Spui in combination with the documentary Does this Movie Matter? (Work in Progress). In the United States My Name Is Rachel Corrie stirred up quite some commotion, even leading New York Theatre to indefinitely postpone the play due to its political message. For more information and reservations please check www.theateraanhetspui.nl. Read more

'moves that matter' party

On Saturday 27 March at 11.30 pm, the MOVES THAT MATTER PARTY will go loose in Theater aan het Spui. Just like last year, a band and disk jockey will provide the swinging grooves to get everyone on the dance floor. Entrance is free for those who present a festival ticket, and will cost €5 for all other visitors.