International Law & Popcorn
Veranstaltungsreihe im Sommersemester 2026
in Kooperation mit Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches Recht und Völkerrecht und
der Non-Profit Menschenrechtsorganisation Just Access e.V.
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Film and Lecture Series during the Summer Semester 2026
in cooperation with Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law and
the non-profit Human Right Association Just Access e.V.
Die Filme zeigen wir im Original mit englischen Untertiteln oder in der englischen Originalversion. Die Filmeinführungen und Diskussionen finden auf Englisch statt.
Moderation: Moritz Vinken (Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches Recht und Völkerrecht)
Filme sind Spiegel gesellschaftlicher Vorstellungen des Rechts, prägen diese aber auch aktiv mit. Sie können Regelungsgegenstände und Funktionsweisen des Rechts greifbar machen aber auch dessen Grenzen, Ohnmacht und Missbrauch aufzeigen. Wir laden Sie mit dieser Filmreihe ein, gemeinsam wichtige Schauplätze und Grundfragen des Völkerrechts durch die Kameralinse zu erkunden und zu diskutieren!
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We will show the films in their original language with English Subtitles or in the English Original Version. Introductions and discussions will be held in English.
Moderation: Moritz Vinken (Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches Recht und Völkerrecht)
Films are not only a reflection and sculptor of social perceptions of law. Above all, they make the objects and workings of international law tangible and thereby expose its shortcomings, its limitations as well as its violations and abuses. In this film series, we invite you to explore important sites of struggle of international law through the cinematic lens.
Veranstaltungstermine | Event Dates:
WHAT REMAINS - Journalists in Crisis Areas (OmeU)
Mo, 02.03., 20:00 Uhr
discussed by the movies's director Lotta Pommerien & Annika Knauer (Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law)
D 2023 | Director: Lotta Pommerien | 79 Min.
Documentary
Pictures of destroyed houses, crying women and children, injured soldiers - we are confronted with such images every day. It seems to be seething all over the world. The terrible news of our time appears on our screens, in the newspapers, on television. But who actually delivers this news? And how are these people dealing with the situation in crisis areas? This film accompanies Silke Diettrich, Juliane Tutein and Simone Schlindwein at their work in crisis areas.India/Afghanistan, Belarus/Ukraine, Uganda/Congo - these are the countries from which these women report. They must deal with patriarchal structures, dictators and terrorist organizations. Does their gender play a role in their reporting? How do they manage to constantly commute between exceptional situations and private life?
APOCALYPSE NOW (engl. OV)
Mo, 20.04., 19:30 Uhr
discussed by Leon Seidl (Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law)
USA 1979 | Director: Francis Coppola | 150 Min.
Cast: Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen
A classic film from 1979, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
It tells a fictional story set in the 1960s during the Vietnam War. The central character is an army captain sent by boat deep into the Cambodian jungle to capture a special forces colonel who is presumed to have lost his mind. The film is partly based on Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness," which recounts a journey down the Congo River.
DAHOMEY (OmeU)
Mo, 11.05., 20:00 Uhr
discussed by Matthias Goldmann (Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law)
BEN,F,SN 2024 | Director: Mati Diop | 69 Min.
Documentary
November 2021. 26 royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey are about to leave Paris to return to their country of origin, the present-day Republic of Benin. Along with thousands of others, these artefacts were plundered by French colonial troops in 1892. But what attitude to adopt to these ancestors’ homecoming in a country that had to forge ahead in their absence? The debate rages among students at the University of Abomey-Calavi. (Berlinale 2024)
GREEN BORDER (OmeU)
Mo, 08.06., 20:00 Uhr
discussed by Dana Schmalz (Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law)
PL,CZ,F,B 2023 | Director: Agnieszka Holland | 152 Min.
Cast: Jalal Altawil, Maja Ostaszewska, Behi Djanati Atai, Mohamad Al Rashi, Dalia Naous, Tomasz Włosok
The “green border” is a forest area between Belarus and Poland. On the run from war and terror, Bashir’s family and the teacher Leila, respectively from Syria and Afghanistan, believe they can reach the EU through here. Instead, they become the victims of political scheming and propaganda. Their fates are intertwined with those of characters on the Polish side: Julia, who becomes an activist on impulse, and Jan, a young border guard.
A tender and angry film, told with profound humanity. In crystalline black-and-white, reminiscent of many major works of Polish cinema, Holland lays bare the drama of our present. (IFFMH)
KHARTOUM (OmeU)
Mo, 06.07., 20:00 Uhr
discussed by Mark Somos (Just Access e.V.)
SUD/GB/D/Q | Director: Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea M. Ahmed, Phil Cox | 80 Min.
Documentary
From the metropolis of Khartoum five Sudanese citizens: a civil servant, a tea vendor, a resistance committee volunteer, and two street boys all in search of freedom, have their stories woven together through animated dreams, street revolutions and war.
The backstory
In 2022, Sudanese filmmakers, in collaboration with a British writer / director, an Irish Palestinian editor, and supported by indie company Native Voice Films and Sudan Film Factory with Ayin Network, began filming the lives and dreams of five very different citizens in Khartoum: Street boy LOKAIN (12) and his best friend WILSON (11) embark on a mission in Khartoum’s rubbish dumps to buy two beautiful shirts. KHADMALLAH (28) a single mum and tea vendor engages her daily clientele in gossip and cardamom coffee whilst studying math to start her dream business. JAWAD (30) is a Sufi Rastafarian resistance volunteer who rides a motorcycle and protests for a civilian government. Civil servant MAJDI (45) escapes office life by racing pigeons with his son. When filming started, the Sudanese were faced with a military leadership that had brought down the previous civilian government. Soon, however, war broke out between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, displacing over eleven million people, including everyone in the production. (khartoummovie.com)