29/03/2022 - The yearly film festival with human rights at its core has announced the titles in its competitions as well as the juries set to judge them

Taking place from 8-16 April in the Dutch city of The Hague, as well as online and in cities across the country, the 14^th edition of the Movies that Matter Festival has announced the titles in its seven competitions. With human rights at its core, the gathering will once again present two international competitions: the Grand Jury Fiction Award and Grand Jury Documentary Award, featuring eight and nine films, respectively, selected from the full film programme of the festival. A total of 85 movies – 64 feature-length ones and 21 shorts – including nine world premieres, one international premiere and two European premieres, will be screened.

Starting with the Grand Jury Fiction Award, the international jury is headed up by Dutch actress Monique van de Ven, and she will be joined by Afghan filmmaker Aboozar Amini (Kabul, City in the Wind [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile]). Competing for the award are The Accusation [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Yvan Attal
film profile] by Yvan Attal (France), Ahed's Knee [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nadav Lapid
film profile] by Nadav Lapid (Israel/France/Germany), Ali & Ava [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Clio Barnard (UK), Along the Way by Mijke de Jong (Netherlands), The Consequences [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claudia Pinto Emperador
film profile] by Claudia Pinto Emperador (Spain/Netherlands/Belgium), Erasing Frank [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gábor Fabricius
film profile] by Gábor Fabricius (Hungary), A Hero [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Asghar Farhadi
film profile] by Asghar Farhadi (Iran/France) and Happening [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anamaria Vartolomei
film profile] by Audrey Diwan (France).

As for the Grand Jury Documentary Award, the jury is chaired by Ryan Harrington, head of the social-cinema platform Film for Kinema, and the other members are award-winning filmmaker Sahra Mani, who is also the main guest at the festival, as part of its thematic programme Take on Afghanistan, and News Emmy-, PGA- and Peabody-nominated producer Toni Kamau. The selection includes Ascension by Jessica Kingdon (USA), Eternal Spring by Jason Loftus (Canada), Myanmar Diaries [+see also:
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film profile] by the Myanmar Film Collective (Netherlands/Myanmar/Norway), Navalny by Daniel Roher (USA, which is also the opening film of the festival), Nelly & Nadine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Magnus Gertten
film profile] by Magnus Gertten (Sweden/Belgium/Norway), The Territory [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Alex Pritz (Brazil/Denmark/USA), The Therapy by Zvi Landsman (Israel, having its European premiere), We Don't Talk [+see also:
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film profile] by Marjolein Busstra (Netherlands, having its world premiere) and Writing With Fire by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh (India).

Along with the two international jury competitions, the festival also presents three thematic competitions: the Activist Competition, featuring eight documentaries about the work of human rights activists; Camera Justitia, which zooms in on the importance of the rule of law and the fight against impunity; and Dutch Movies Matter, celebrating films from the Netherlands that open eyes to human rights. Seven international shorts will be going head to head in the Shorts Competition, and a student jury from Leiden University will pick their Students’ Choice.

The Movies that Matter Festival 2022 is made possible by the National Postcode Lottery, and partners such as Amnesty International, the ASN Foundation, Creative Europe – MEDIA, the Municipality of The Hague, Fonds 1818, Fonds 21, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands Film Fund, the Oak Foundation, vfonds, VEVAM and VSBfonds.