The Movies that Matter Festival, set to take place from 22 to 30 March, 2024, in The Hague and other Dutch cities, announced its programme featuring over 80 films. The festival, dedicated to #human rights# themes, will open with Photophobia by Ivan Ostrochovský and Pavol Pekarčík, a documentary about two families seeking refuge in a metro station in #Kharkiv. This film is also a contender for the Grand Jury Documentary Award.

The ‘Take on Freedom’ programme, part of the festival, includes six films exploring the concept of freedom. It features Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Canadian-Palestinian doctor and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, in I Shall Not Hate by Tal Barda. Additionally, the festival has partnered with #IDFA for a special screening of No Other Land, winner of the Berlinale Documentary Award, including a discussion with the filmmakers.

The festival concludes with Crossing by Levan Akin, a Berlinale entry, and highlights Türkiye through films, panels, and exhibitions. Fiction films competing for the Grand Jury Fiction Award include The Green Border by Agnieszka Holland and Tatami by Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi.

Other festival components include thematic competitions like the Activist Competition, Camera Justitia, and Dutch Movies Matter, as well as a Shorts Competition. Seventeen international shorts will compete, and a student jury from Leiden University will select a Students’ Choice.

The festival will also host Industry Days from March 23 to 28, featuring workshops, panel discussions, and masterclasses related to film and human rights. Highlights include the ‘Filmmaking in Times of Crisis’ panel with filmmakers discussing creative expression in challenging times.

Eight films will have their world premiere at the festival, including Pieter van Huystee’s When I Close My Eyes, I Am the River, the River Is Me by Petr Lom (Myanmar Diaries), and Homefront by Anna Ilchenko and Anna Yutchenko.

Find more on the complete 2024 Movies That Matter programme – HERE