Amsterdam Polish Film Festival: Green Border

The third edition of the Amsterdam Polish Film Festival (October 18-20), organised in collaboration with Polish Culture NL, will focus on Agnieszka Holland. With her poignant, empathetic, and often politically charged films, Holland (1948) is one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers in Polish and European cinema.

The internationally acclaimed refugee drama Green Border (2023) focuses on the Polish-Belarusian border, where Syrian migrants are used as pawns in a cynical political game. After the film, there will be discussions with Agnieszka Holland about her life and work, as well as with migration expert Hein de Haas and Belgian actress Joely Mbundu.

Programme:
16.00 – 18.30 Green Border
20.00 – 20.40 – Interview with Agnieszka Holland
20.40 – 21.20 – Conversation with migrationexpert Hein de Haas and Belgian actress Joely Mbundu on the dynamics of migration

About the film

In the treacherous forests that make up the so-called ‘green border’ between Belarus and Poland, refugees attempting to reach Europe via this route find themselves stranded. Belarus is trying to undermine the EU by encouraging this border crossing, while Poland refuses to let them in. As a result, the refugees end up in a cold, swampy no man’s land, without food or medical care. The lives of the activist Julia, border guard Jan, and a Syrian family become intertwined as pawns in a political game.