In 1971, 27-year-old Newsweek reporter Alec Shimkin discovers a secret US-led military campaign in Vietnam. The story is about to reveal war crimes on an immense scale, undeniably Pullitzer-worthy material. But the Scoop never got the exposure it deserved: though published in Newsweek, Shimkin’s findings were tucked away in a small sidebar, far from the front-page attention they warrented. Shimkin’s discovery was Operation Speedy Express, a campaign that may have involved war crimes on a scale that makes the infamous My Lai massacre pale by comparrison. Yet almost no one knows the full truth, because Alec himself vanished before he could bring it to light. In the trail of Alec’s quest and his childhood obsession for war, the documentary Soldier’s Bones, directed by Kasper Verkaik, searches for the deadly echo of Speedy Express in the Mekong Delta.

Movies that Matter On Tour brings a selection of impactful festival films to LHC. Films that move, challenge, connect and inspire change. Always with context: your local volunteers provide an introduction or follow-up discussion with guest speakers at each screening. In the idyllic English countryside lives an intensive dairy farmer called Derek. One day his neighbour, also called Derek, forsakes farming tradition and starts turning his land over to wild nature. How does the community react when one of its own turns his back on their way of life?

For the first time in On Tour, we bring together a striking selection of short films, including a preview of two new festival shorts! In The Age of Vigilance takes us on a bumpy, sometimes satirical, ride through state oppression, repression and hopelessness within a system that turns its back to those it is supposed to protect. The selection reflects the current Orwellian state of affairs, where government surveillance, manipulation of truth and abuse of power dictate daily life in most parts of the world. Together, these films capture the urgency and fragility of life under constant pressure, when vigilance becomes a daily condition, asking what it means to live under pressure, and what it takes to keep thinking, feeling, and resisting.

An Asian tourist visits the touristic highlights that the Netherlands has to offer. After losing his passport – due to biased assumptions about his identity – he ends up in a refugee asylum situated on a former luxury cruise ship in Amsterdam. Awaiting a solution to his precarious situation, he manages to start special friendships with the residents of the asylum through non-verbal communication. This hybrid film was made with non-professional actors and refugees playing themselves, and is inspired by a true story.