At Movies that Matter 2026
A closer look at this year’s programme, key films, and the ideas shaping one of Europe’s leading human rights festivals
Movies that Matter 2026 returns from 20 to 28 March in The Hague, Netherlands, with a strong new edition centred on documentary, human rights, and urgent international political cinema. The festival remains one of Europe’s most important spaces for films that engage with the forces shaping the present. Before we arrive on-site, we take a closer look at the programme, highlight a selection of key titles, and speak with director Laurens Korteweg about the making of an edition under financial pressures.
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News
Movies that Matter sets a politically charged course for 2026 festival; unveils complete programme
Interview
«We need a different appreciation of culture in society»
Laurens Korteweg discusses Movies That Matter 2026, financial pressure, Dutch cultural cuts, and the challenge of sustaining a human rights festival.
Films
9-Month Contract
Director: Ketevan Vashagashvili
It's not just Georgia where are women trying to find a way out of social misery through surrogacy.
American Doctor
Director: Poh Si Teng
Following three American physicians in and beyond Gaza, American Doctor confronts genocide, media legibility, and the ever-collapsing distance between war and domestic responsibility.
Coexistence, My Ass!
Director: Amber Fares
Noam Shuster Eliassi’s path from UN hopeful to fearless comedian, testing taboos and hope between Jews and Palestinians in Israel.
Cutting Through Rocks
Director: Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni
In a conservative Iranian village, one divorced woman’s political rise sparks fierce resistance, gendered repression, and bold feminist defiance.
MARIINKA
Director: Pieter-Jan De Pue
A rare glimpse across the lines of Russia’s war in Ukraine, where brother has been set against brother, and families brutalised by conflict.
Melt
Director: Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Geyrhalter’s latest observes global snowscapes and people amid tourism and research, documenting vanishing ice, extreme weather, and urgent climate-policy questions.
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Silver Lion - Grand Jury Prize at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, Kaouther Ben Hania’s film follows Hind Rajab’s calls, Red Crescent coordination, and an ambulance denied until it’s shot.
Traces
Director: Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk
Winner of the Panorama Audience Award at this year's Berlinale, Traces, details the powerful story of women seeking to survive and thrive after being raped and tortured by Russian forces during the war in Ukraine.