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The Promise
Movies That Matter On Tour

The Promise

Movies That Matter Special

Ontdek

Movies that Matter On Tour is a series of striking films with a focus on human rights. Every monthly edition is presented with an introduction, debate or Q&A organised by their local team.
 
This edition presents the Dutch documentary The Promise. A forgotten struggle, a lost future. In the 1960s, it seemed that West Papua was on the path to independence. However, international interests, geopolitical power dynamics, and economic profit considerations determined otherwise. With uniquely and impressively restored 35mm archival footage, The Promise brings this history back to life, revealing how a people have been systematically betrayed and oppressed.

Credits

Regie
Daan Veldhuizen
Genre
Documentary
Speelduur
115 min.
Land
The Netherlands
Taal
Dutch
Ondertiteling
English

Omschrijving

As the Netherlands prepared for the independence of Dutch New Guinea, Indonesia resisted. Under pressure from the United States and the United Nations, the territory was handed over to Indonesia in 1962, with the promise of a referendum. However, the so-called Act of Free Choice turned out to be a sham. Since then, Papuans in Indonesia have been persecuted, displaced, and murdered on a massive scale—one of the world’s most ignored genocides.

Against the backdrop of the Cold War, the film reveals how West Papua’s future was not only decided in diplomatic backrooms but also in the business world, where influential Western elites—including Prince Bernhard—appeared to prioritize economic interests over human rights. While West Papua’s vast natural resources continue to be exploited by mostly Western companies to this day, its Indigenous population is systematically oppressed.

Through harrowing stories of exiled Papuans and their fight for recognition, director Daan Veldhuizen’s The Promise paints a painful picture of how colonialism gave way to neocolonialism—and how the world remained silent.