As Let’s Document Cambodia (LDC) has been an integral part of Sunflower Film Organization (SFO), with the current grant call proposed by Movies that Matter Festival (MtM), I am applying for our mobile screening project in 12 indigenous communities, across Cambodia. Since the same festival announced their recruitment of festival programmers from the Global South for Cinema Without Borders (CWB) 2024 last December, I purposely applied for that workshop before strategizing my project further. I must say I was blessed to be selected by MtM in that workshop and happy to share with you these five experiences I’ve earned from my trip to the Hague, the Netherlands.
- Global Network of Film Programmers
Well, I should put “Global South” as this was part of MtM’s eligibility criteria to somehow exchange our local experiences with the target facilitators. There were 14 of us, from 13 countries. Some are developing a new film festival; others (like me) work on mobile cinema projects; others attempt to thematize their festivals with human rights. Somehow, my case is pretty unique in that, leveraging on my experience through both LDC’s community screenings back in 2019 and 2022, and Chaktomuk Short Film Festival (CSFF) since 2012, I am designing the upcoming mobile-LDC. As we have planned out, this screening tour is expected to hit the road this September.
- Human Rights, Our Rights
Besides our workshop, I managed to check out some films, all focusing on human rights. What I could remember to date were those documentaries on a New Zealander river recognized as a legal entity, the daring indigenous activists against illegal logging in the Amazon, the risky reporting by an Egyptian in after-war Afghanistan. All this content proves to me how vulnerable groups are exposed to ongoing vital risks and natural resource losses as if their rights were deprived from their homes. Watching these films made me realize how their rights, once upheld, matter to the rest of the world and our Mother Earth.
- Enriched Cultural Experience
By “culture”, I’m referring not only to Dutch ways of life, but also screening practices in my fellows’ countries. For example, in Ouganda, instead of the local language subtitles, a celebrated host is engaged in voicing over the running images on the screen of a certain film! In Indonesia, LGBTIQA people remain subject to violence, as considered sinners, against the Qran. Also, if you come from a subtle background of interaction, embrace Dutch bluntness about their comments to you or people around them!
- Practical and Fresh Lessons
Obviously, we all anticipated those lessons, despite our familiarity with programming our own screenings or festivals. Yet, some team activities such as discussing our favorite films and naming our slot and assembling the chronological order of programming tasks not only enhanced our acquis, but also served as instrumental inspiration for our teams back home. Needless to say, the most interesting sessions for me covered programming itself, marketing and fundraising.
- Beyond the Festival!
On every trip, I make sure I go the extra mile. This time around, several of my fellows asked me/us to visit the beach in one morning and play football in another. Besides, the organizers were kind enough to extend our schedules to an impromptu mini-tour of the Hague! Among others, we roamed around the bar street, the oldest castle in town, the most classic hotel and even Royal Residence. Needless to say, the Netherlands is such a cute, yet ambitious monarchy, especially when it comes to human rights.
Oddly enough, I couldn’t manage to discover other parts of the Hague and Holland. What still intrigued me to come back is the International Court of Justice, which historically ruled Preah Vihear many years ago to belong to Cambodia, after a territorial dispute with Thailand. On top of this, the Netherlands is home to other prestigious film festivals such as Rotterdam Film Festival and International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam!