30/03/2021 - The 13th edition will take place online from 16-25 April, and will include two new international competition awards for documentary and fiction films, as well as a pitching event for new projects

The Dutch international human rights film festival Movies That Matter has announced that it is launching two new competition prizes and an industry programme for its 13^th edition, set to take place online from 16-25 April: the Grand Jury Documentary Award, made possible by Dutch public broadcaster BNNVARA, and the Grand Jury Fiction Award. For each prize, worth €5,000, eight films have been selected from across the festival’s programme strands.

The fiction strand includes Philippe Lacôte's Night of the Kings [+see also:
film review
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interview: Philippe Lacôte
film profile] (France/Ivory Coast/Canada/Senegal), Bosnian director Jasmila Žbanić's Quo Vadis, Aida? [+see also:
film review
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interview: Jasmila Žbanić
film profile], Kaweh Modiri's Mitra [+see also:
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interview: Kaweh Modiri
film profile] (Netherlands/Germany/Denmark), Serbian helmer Ivan Ikić's Oasis [+see also:
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interview: Ivan Ikic
film profile], Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh's Gagarin [+see also:
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interview: Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Tr…
film profile] (France), Nir Bergman's Here We Are [+see also:
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film profile] (Israel/Italy), Nicol Ruiz Benavides' Forgotten Roads (Chile) and Kaouther Ben Hania's The Man Who Sold His Skin [+see also:
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interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile] (Tunisia/France/Belgium/Germany/Sweden), which will officially open the festival.

The members of the jury for this section are IFFR festival director Vanja Kaludjerčić, manager of festival programming at the Toronto International Film Festival Liane Cunje and head of the European Film Academy Matthijs Wouter Knol.

Competing for the Grand Jury Documentary Award 2021 are Camilla Nielsson's President [+see also:
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interview: Camilla Nielsson
film profile] (Denmark/USA/Norway), Farida Pacha's Watch Over Me (Switzerland/Germany), Chloe Fairweather's Dying to Divorce (UK), Eefje Blankevoort and Els van van Driel's Shadow Game (Netherlands), Sébastien Lifshitz's Little Girl [+see also:
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interview: Sébastien Lifshitz
film profile] (France/Denmark), Maxx Caceido and Nelson G Navarrette's A La Calle (USA), Jenni Kivistö and Jussi Rastas' Colombia in My Arms [+see also:
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film profile] (Finland/Norway/Denmark/France), and Celina Escher's Fly So Far (Sweden).

The jury members are IDA executive director Simon Kilmurry, Kenyan producer Sam Soko and Docaviv festival director Galia Bador.

The two awards come in addition to the festival’s three already-existing competitions: the Activist Competition, in cooperation with Amnesty International, 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.

Also new at the festival this year is an international industry programme running from 19-21 April. Eight selected projects from around the world will receive extensive training and coaching in the Movies That Matter Rough Cut Service with Sigal Yehuda (Close-Up), Judy Kibinge (DocuBox) and Andrea Prenghyová (dok.incubator), and will be pitched to decision makers on the last day.

On 20 and 21 April, the festival organises two impact days – Take on Film & Impact – in collaboration with Doc Society and FIFDH Geneva, with talks, presentations and panel discussions. Additionally, a series of webinars, master classes and panels will run from 17-22 April and will be available for free on the festival’s website (click here).