_{Along the Way by Mijke de Jong}

Mijke de Jong's Along the Way* is nominated for the Grand Jury Fiction Award and selected for the Dutch Movies Matter Competition. Produced by BALDR Film in co-production with VPRO, HUMAN and Heretic (Greece), the film had its world premiere as the closing film of the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2022. Along the Way takes place on the border of Turkey and Iran, where 19-year-old twin sisters Zahra and Fatimah from Afghanistan lose their family.

Myanmar Diaries* by The Myanmar Film Collective and ZIN Doc is nominated for the Grand Jury Documentary Award and selected for the Camera Justitia Competition. It had its world premiere at the Berlinale 2022, where it won the Berlinale Documentary Award and the Amnesty International Film Award. Myanmar Diaries is a hybrid documentary film about life under Myanmar’s junta regime of terror in the aftermath of the military coup of February 1st 2021, told through intimate personal stories.

We Don't Talk by Marjolein Busstra and Halal is nominated for the Grand Jury Documentary Award and selected for the Dutch Movies Matter Competition. World premiering at Movies that Matter Film Festival, Busstra's previous documentary I Love My Muslim (2018) was nominated for the Dutch Documentary Award at the same festival. We Don't Talk is an intriguing documentary of in-depth conversations between therapists and youngsters who are entangled in the complex network of sexual violence and exploitation. 

The Treasures of Crimea** by Oeke Hoogendijk and Zeppers Film & TV is selected for the Camera Justitia Competition. The documentary had its world premiere at IDFA 2021 and was selected for CPH:DOX 2022. The Treasures of Crimea analyses how an ancient collection from long lost civilizations became a focal point of one of the world’s major political controversies today.

_{Myanmar Diaries by The Myanmar Film Collective}

Dutch Movies Matter Competition

There are more films selected for the Dutch Movies Matter Competition. Feature film Huda's Salon**, directed by Hany Abu-Assad and co-produced by KeyFilm, follows Reem, a married young woman from Palestine, who visits Huda’s salon for an ordinary haircut, but this visit will end anything but ordinary. Huda blackmails Reem and gives her an impossible choice. Or Reem betrays her people and becomes a collaborator, or Huda will reveal a dark secret of Reem. The fate of these two women is mysteriously determined by a clever freedom fighter named Hasan. The film celebrated its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2021.

Besides We Don't Talk, the following films also celebrate their world premieres at Movies that Matter Film Festival: Met Mes**, Keep Silent**, Sweetling, I am a Bastard and Sexual Healing. In feature film Met Mes by Sam de Jong and Lemming Film, a successful TV personality is robbed of her new camera and exaggerates the story to get the most out of her insurance. However, when the young suspect unexpectedly gets arrested, this trivial lie ignites a chain reaction of unforeseen consequences that will know only losers in the end. Met Mes was selected for IFFR's Tiger Competition 2022.

Keep Silent by Marieke van der Winden and Witfilm tries to answer an important question for the director: when you are descended from a family of WWII collaborators what does it do to your sense of self, and your impression of the world around you?

Sweetling by Eva van Barneveld and Tangerine Tree follows Hetty and Jeanne, two lovers, who are enjoying their colourful life together. But slowly, their carefree spirit dwindles now that dementia is gradually affecting Jeanne’s behaviour. Inevitably, their relationship is changing.

The Moroccan-Flemish author and actor Rashif El Kaoui is struggling with his bicultural identity in the road-film documentary I am a Bastard. His friend, Turkish-Dutch photographer and director Ahmet Polat, recognises his urgent need to free himself. He follows Rashif on his journey to find redemption. The mid-length documentary is produced by Studio Biarritz.

Sexual Healing by Elsbeth Fraanje and Tangerine Tree is an intimate portrait of Evelien, who is spastic since birth and has a strong desire for sexuality. Now, at 53, she thinks it is time for an intimacy quest. But doubt and insecurities are never far away. Will she overcome her inner obstacles?

Movies that Matter Film Festival starts April 8th, continuing until April 16th. For more information, click here.
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*Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund
**Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and Production Incentive