Movies that Matter Festival 2022 (8 – 16 April) will present over eighty documentaries and feature films from around the world, along with debates, Q&As and educational programmes. The new theme Take on Afghanistan showcases urgent films from and about Afghanistan that deserve even more attention in light of recent events.
The first main guest is director Sahra Mani, who fled Kabul in 2021. Her latest film A Thousand Girls Like Me (2019) won more than 25 awards worldwide. Aboozar Amini (Kabul, City in the Wind, 2018) will also be a guest at this year’s festival. The third main guest, Dutch Afghan Dawood Hilmandi, started his film career with Bekhawy (2009) which was screened at IFFR. Among his other projects are the experimental Into Zero Space (2016) and his shorts Arvaksca and 2087, both screened in Cannes in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Next to the new theme, this year’s festival features several thematic programmes. Take on Future showcases the dilemmas of the transition to a sustainable future. In Take on Power, the festival presents films about unequal power relations. Another new theme is Take on Voices. A crucial programme about freedom of speech, giving voice to journalists, festival organisers, filmmakers, activists, and artists whose freedom of expression is restricted.
