The Killing of a Journalist tells the story of the 2018 murders of OCCRP’s Slovak colleague Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová. An investigative journalist who used leaked police files from the murder investigation to uncover vast corruption at the highest levels of Slovak society.

In 2018, Slovakia was rated amongst the most corrupt countries in the EU. In the same year, the problem of corruption exploded in the eyes of the public when an investigative reporter, Jan Kuciak, and his fiancée were brutally murdered in their home. Kuciak had frightened the political elite by investigating the links between them and organized crime. It sparked national demonstrations and ultimately brought down the government.

The Killing of a Journalist tells the story of the 2018 murders of OCCRP’s Slovak colleague Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová. An investigative journalist who used leaked police files from the murder investigation to uncover vast corruption at the highest levels of Slovak society.

In 2018, Slovakia was rated amongst the most corrupt countries in the EU. In the same year, the problem of corruption exploded in the eyes of the public when an investigative reporter, Jan Kuciak, and his fiancée were brutally murdered in their home. Kuciak had frightened the political elite by investigating the links between them and organized crime. It sparked national demonstrations and ultimately brought down the government.

Edvard Munch was een van de belangrijkste expressionistische kunstenaars en is wereldberoemd geworden door zijn iconische werk De Schreeuw.

In deze meeslepende film volgen we hem in vier belangrijke periodes in zijn leven, van ietwat naïeve en onstuimige twintiger die een mooie carrière voor zich heeft tot de gedesillusioneerde dertiger die afgewezen wordt door de Berlijnse kunstwereld. En van de mentaal gebroken veertiger die zich laat opnemen in een psychiatrische kliniek tot de strijdbare tachtiger die zijn werk uit handen van de nazi’s probeert te houden. ‘Munch’ geeft een caleidoscopisch beeld van de kunstenaar, even veelzijdig en eigenzinnig als het werk van de meester zelf.

In 2005, an oil panel depicting Christ attracts the attention of two art dealers. Behind the shoddy restoration, they believe they see the hand of a master. For $1,157, they buy the work. Within 12 years, it is worth $450 million. The most expensive painting ever sold.

The Lost Leonardo by Danish filmmaker Andreas Koefoed tells the unlikely story behind the Salvator Mundi, a long-lost painting said to be the work of Leonardo da Vinci. From the moment it is bought in an obscure New Orleans auction house, the Salvator Mundi’s fate is determined by politics, greed and power.

It is an incredible story that develops like a suspenseful detective. As the price rises, so does the question of the artwork’s authenticity. Has restorer Dianne Modestini been particularly successful in replicating Da Vinci’s style? Art critics are sceptical, but the stakes are high. In any case – even before consulted art experts agree – the painting will be presented as a genuine Da Vinci at the Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery in London in 2012. Dizzying sums are offered, and the painting changes hands until no one knows where it is any more.

The Lost Leonardo is a fascinating story about the most expensive painting ever sold. A revealing and exciting film about the world of the art trade and the hidden interests of powerful art institutions, politicians and the richest of the rich.

The incredible story of a soldier of Tatar origin who was captured by the Nazis in World War II. Now, through his diaries and various personal and public archives and records, his daughter Sana is trying to retrace the trail of her silent father.

While accompanying Sana on her quest, director Aliona van der Horst (Love is potatoes) also digs out film archives to find traces of the millions of Soviet soldiers who were in the firing line of warring dictators; those who were there but were conveniently omitted from the narrative of global war.

Using mixed techniques such as double-pass, zooming and colouring to re-appropriate the archive material, the filmmaker seeks the soul of the image – the small, subtle remnants of a vast but casually erased human tragedy. Careful but determined, this history unfolds in a film that breaks 60 years of silence.

In Housewitz, daughter and filmmaker Oeke Hoogendijk investigates why her mother Lous has refused to leave her house for decades. Lous is a typical “Yiddish mum”, an eccentric, smart, compelling mother with a cutting sense of humour. In her own created isolation, she travels the world via her TVs and computers. At night, she watches the programme die Schönste Bahnstrecken to keep recurring nightmares at bay. Nightmares that keep taking her back to the day she was taken from her home as a Jewish girl and put on transport. Towards the end of her life, Lous opens the door and lets her daughter in with her cameras.

The filmmaker thus tries to break through the oppressive situation by unravelling her mother’s inner world. Housewitz is a tragicomic film about how war affects a family life and is Hoogendijk’s most personal film to date. The film shows – in Hoogendijk’s well-known witty way – the attempts of a daughter trying to make contact with her war-traumatised mother.

European society is torn between eco-activism, climate change denial, reckless consumerism and fatalism. As various climate tipping points are nearing and the experts warn us that time to act is slowly running out, some people have decided to take matters into their own hands.

Already, the activists throwing soup at protected paintings caused an uproar in society. We can only imagine the reaction if they actually started blowing up pipelines. One thing is certain – these actions gather a lot of attention, for the better or the worse. The same could be said about Daniel Goldhaber’s call-to-arms film and Andreas Malm’s book it was inspired by.

These topics sparked intense debate inside the climate change movements – is the time for negotiating, lobbying and “raising awareness” already past? Is the possible extinction we are facing an argument strong enough to resort to violent and destructive tactics that we are normally against?

After the screening, we are joined by Daniel Goldhaber (via videolink) and Clare Farrell to talk about whether we should be blowing up pipelines and what is the adequate form of communicating these ideas to a wider audience.

Esther’s husband Dr. Barinem Kiobel was one of the “Ogoni 9”, people who were executed in 1995 after revolting against Shell’s pollution of their land in Nigeria. A quarter of a century later, Esther tries to prove in front of a Dutch court that the Shell corporation was involved in the executions.

The Ogoni people, living in the Niger Delta, organized a revolt against Shell, who extracted oil from their land and caused severe pollution while returning no value to the local population. After a show trial, nine Ogoni leaders were sentenced to death. Esther is convinced Shell stood behind and encouraged the regime to dispose of the rebels.

Esther travels from Dallas, Texas, where she currently lives, back to Nigeria to find people willing to testify against Shell in the Netherlands. In the courtroom, together with her lawyer Channa Samkalden, she tries to prove that Shell bribed witnesses.

After the film we are joined on stage by Channa Samkalden and Audrey Gaughran, executive director of SOMO – The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, an independent, non-profit research organization working on social, ecological and economic issues related to sustainable development.

This programme was created in partnership with SOMO, who are celebrating 50 years since their foundation.

Utama opent met het verbluffend mooie beeld van een oudere man die naar de zon loopt die goudkleurig boven de bergen oprijst. Dit is Virginio, wiens verweerde gezicht zo gebarsten is als de aarde onder zijn voeten. Virginio brengt zijn dagen door met het zwerven over de verschroeide hoogvlakte van het Andesgebergte in Bolivia, terwijl hij zijn kudde pluizige lama’s laat grazen. Hij en zijn vrouw Sisa leven zonder stromend water en zonder stroom. Het is Sisa’s taak om water te halen, terwijl Virginio de lama’s laat grazen. Het probleem is echter dat er geen regen meer in de regio valt en de sneeuw zich niet meer op bergtoppen laat zien. De dorpsbron is inmiddels opgedroogd. ‘De tijd is moe geworden’, zegt een vriend tegen Virginio om de droogte te verklaren. Maar de waarheid is dat klimaatverandering het leven ondraaglijk maakt – niet dat er ooit over de opwarming van de aarde wordt gesproken.

Joeri Dmitriev graaft op wat de huidige Russische machthebbers het liefst willen vergeten. Na jarenlang zoeken vindt hij in de naaldbossen van Karelië in Noordwest-Rusland een massagraf met duizenden heimelijk geëxecuteerden tijdens Stalins ‘Grote Terreur’ van 1937.

Niet de Russische overheid, maar Dmitriev spoort onvermoeibaar hun identiteiten op in de archieven en organiseert herdenkingen voor de nabestaanden. Dankzij zijn inspanningen weten zij eindelijk waar hun verdwenen familieleden zijn gebleven. Dat hij zelf als baby is achtergelaten in een kraamkliniek, maakt hem een man met een missie: ‘Als mens moet je mogen weten waar je vandaan komt en waar je familie is begraven.’ Terwijl het buitenland steeds meer erkenning toont voor deze ‘archeoloog van de terreur’, wordt Dmitriev in Rusland verdacht gemaakt als iemand die met het westen heult. Dan wordt hij gearresteerd, op basis van een gefabriceerde aanklacht. Tragisch precies voorspelt Dmitriev zijn eigen toekomst en dat van zijn land.