De Facto recommends

Picture this: 1 in every 70 people on earth is currently displaced due to conflict, war, or persecution. The International Film Festival Rotterdam - January 29th to February 8th - is showcasing five worldpremieres this year about the experience and emotions of displacement.

On January 22, photographer Rob Hornstra will talk with Giorgi Aronia from Abkhazia about European borders, visible and invisible. ‘Taferelen’ is a dinner & talk, organized by Fotodok in Utrecht (NL), connected to the exhibition Lost Territories: Tracing Imperial Violence.

De Facto was never as close to a border as this week: on November 12, we will travel to Maastricht (NL) for our newest edition of Off the Map. Art, science, stamps and a quiz - all about borders. Join us!

Films, exhibitions, workshops and outdoor activities: visit the Dutch Mountain Film Festival, from 4-9 November in the South of the Netherlands.

On October 8, De Facto will seek to create space between the lines that are drawn between Palestine and Israel. Jareach Gilula plays Arabic and Israeli music on her harp, seeking to emphasize what these groups share — even though this is becoming increasingly challenging. Furthermore, we will zoom in on the conflict between India and Pakistan, which recently flared up again. We will talk about this with Aletta André, former India correspondent. And: the story of Nutopia. Join us in MIMIK (Deventer).

How far would you go to uncover the truth? On August 22, De Facto’s Jorie Horsthuis will talk to Romy van Baarsen about the work of journalists at Europe’s borders, after watching Green Border, an impressive drama by Agnieszka Holland about the inhumane way in which migrants are treated. Join the conversation in MIMIK, Deventer.

On July 11, De Facto’s Jorie Horsthuis will interview Dutch-Kurdish film maker Beri Shalmashi about Kurdistan and the developments in the Middle East, after the screening of Half Moon, a film by Bahman Ghobadi.

The standard ‘design’ of the Dutch borderline is often seen as a self-evident representation. Yet this abstract form in no way reflects the geographical, social, and political reality. How can we rethink and redesign the representation of the multiplicity of Dutch borders? A workshop by designer and researcher Annelys de Vet and Professor of Geopolitics and Political Geography Henk van Houtum.

The dominant narrative insists that borders keep us safe. But from what, and from whom? What if borders are systems of power designed to divide, to dominate, to decide who gets to move, who gets to stay, and who is left behind? Film, talks, music and poetry on 20 June in Amsterdam.

What if we could dream beyond borders, beyond displacement, beyond extraction? A powerful one-day experience of collective imagination, embodied storytelling, and radical futurism led by displaced communities. Part of Refugee Welcome Week in Amsterdam.

The Anarchist Citizenship: People Made of Stories exhibition, from 27 October 2024 to 26 January 2025 at Framer Framed, examines how storytelling, visual culture, architecture and social life (re)shape citizenship in Somaliland, the Somali region and its diaspora.

Overwhelmed by the vast offerings at The International Film Festival Amsterdam? Let yourself be guided by the IDFA Pathways. De Facto especially recommends ‘Palestine’, ‘The Law of the Land’ and ‘Life in Europe’. See you there?