Storytelling as Action and Archive

Awareness & Critical Reflection

Jun 17, 2025

19:30

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21:30

Pakhuis De Zwijger

Sliding scale starting at €5 and education events are free, if you do not have means to purchase a ticket please email us.
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This evening explores the power of storytelling, not only as a personal act, but as a political tool, legal testimony, and collective memory.

19:30 - 22:00 | Storytelling as Action and Archive
What role do stories play in making injustice visible? How can film and documentation drive real change? And what is the value of archiving experiences that might otherwise go unseen?
19:30 - 20:30 | Panel discussion on EU border pushbacks
We begin with a panel discussion that delves into the broader legal and political context of migration. Activists, legal experts, and storytellers will reflect on the intersections between narrative and systems of power, and how film, law, and public action can reinforce each other.
20:30 - 21:30 | Documentary and Q&A: We komen van ver (We Come From Afar)
Following the panel, we will screen the short film "We komen van ver" ("We Come From Afar") by Common Frames. In this film, four young newcomers share their journeys and the process of rebuilding their lives in the Netherlands. A Q&A with the filmmakers and participants will follow the screening.
Remy Nyamukabakaba - student Communication at Hogeschool Utrecht, junior content creator at Common Frames. He participated in the film.
Filmmakers and Participants
Sanne Sprenger - Documentary filmmaker, co-founder of Common Frames and teacher at Utrecht University. Artistic project leader of the film.
Kiek Prins - projectcoördinator 'Language and Talent' at Wishing Well Foundation and board director at Tigers Gym Social. She participated in the film.
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Lisa-Marie Komp is a lawyer currently involved in a court case against Frontex, which focuses on the question: can the European border agency be held responsible for human rights violations?
Idris Elhassan is a Sudanese-born researcher, artist, and activist based in Amsterdam, working at the intersection of decolonial critique, multidisciplinary art, and policy advocacy. Rooted in personal and collective histories of displacement, his practice interrogates systemic violence through film, participatory projects, and textual interventions, exposing the enduring links between colonial extraction and Europe’s contemporary asylum regimes.
Romy van Baarsen is a journalist researching border violence and its normalisation. She is working on a book about how pushback becomes legally legitimised – and asks the question: now that this violence has already been extensively documented but hardly leads to political change, what can we still do?
Elena Ponzoni is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at VU Amsterdam. In 2017, she co-founded the Refugee Academy with Professor Halleh Ghorashi to create spaces that center the perspectives and knowledge of refugee communities in both societal and academic dialogues. She also serves as the director of the Co-Creation for Inclusive Knowledges Lab at the Faculty of Social Sciences (VU Amsterdam).
At Common Frames, we love film and media-making—and believe that knowing how to create media empowers people, especially newcomers to the Netherlands. Through participatory film and media projects, we bring together diverse worlds to build shared perspectives and critical media awareness. Co-creation and ownership are at the heart of our work, and we adapt our methods alongside participants. As experts in media, migration, and diversity, we share our knowledge through educational development, coaching, research, and training—working toward a media landscape where everyone is seen, heard, and included.