In the Age of Vigilance

This March, Movies that Matter On Tour brings together a striking selection of short films, including a preview of two new festival shorts! From a satirical video that leads to imprisonment in Venezuela, to the looming threat of ICE in the US to sleepless nights shaped by war and global atrocities. Together, these films capture the urgency and fragility of life under constant pressure, when vigilance becomes a daily condition. They ask what it means to live under pressure, and what it takes to keep thinking, feeling, and resisting.   

Looking For A Donkey (Juan Vicente Manrique, 2024 – 17') 

In a little town of the Venezuelan Andes, two firefighters recorded a video of a donkey as if it were the President of Venezuela visiting their rundown facilities. That same day the firefighters were taken to prison, but little is known of what happened to the donkey. 

A Lien (David Cutler-Kreutz, Sam Cutler-Kreutz, 2023 – 15') 

On the day of their green card interview, a young couple confronts a dangerous immigration process.

What If They Bomb Here Tonight? (Samir Syriani, 2025 – 16') 

Samir and Nadyn, a Lebanese couple, spend a sleepless night anxious and fearing an Israeli airstrike could shatter the glass walls of their home. With their children peacefully asleep, they battle with whether to flee or risk the worst and stay. 

happiness (Fırat Yücel, 2025 – 18') 

An urgent desktop diary made at the intersection of a hectic digital landscape and the inner violence of modern colonization. The film chronicles the sleepless nights of a group of activists, eyes fixed on screens as they follow the news from Palestine and across the region. In Amsterdam, far from their home countries, police violence and the threat of deportation glue them to digital interfaces night after night. Engaging with anti-colonial resistance across screens and streets, happiness is a humble reminder to keep searching for solutions.

In collaboration with Justice & Peace, we are welcoming Victoria Capriles for a Q&A after the screening. Victoria is an attorney, academic and consultant from Venezuela, whose work focuses on extrajudicial executions, migration and human trafficking with a gender perspective. Victoria engages in strategic litigation and advocacy within international frameworks, such as taking part in the Legal team on The Case of Luis Guillermo Espinoza Castillo and others against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela before the UN Human Rights Committee. In addition to this, Victoria contributes to human rights through teaching at universities, conducting workshops for civil society organizations and assisting the Westminster Foundation for Democracy in their efforts to promote inclusion and gender equality in Venezuela.

Justice & Peace Netherlands is a non-profit organisation based in The Hague that is dedicated to defending and promoting respect for human rights and social justice, worldwide and in the Netherlands. Through the Shelter City initiative, they offer safe and inspiring spaces for human rights defenders at risk who have have the opportunity to re-energise, receive personalised support, and engage with allies to reinforce their local actions for change.