The Union in resistance
During Into The Great Wide Open, resistance can be heard everywhere: in the audience, in the church, the café, on stage, at night.
2025
Announcement
DATE
Aug 12, 2025
Resistance is not something you do alone. That's why we listen to voices that resist scapegoat politics and the autocratic wind that is rising. We make room for humanity and individuality. The most essential form of rebellion is that of the artist – who resists reality by rearranging it, recreating it, and refusing to accept the world as it is. Art reminds us what it means to be human – it is up to us to make that humanity possible for each other.
Our guideline, not so crazy actually, is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which the Netherlands has committed itself. It is up to us citizens to determine what that means. Together with artists, activists, writers, thinkers, and the public, we will look for that meaning. We are inspired by many movements: from the Civil Rights Movement in the US to the Dolle Mina’s and Charta 77 - resistance that persistently works for change even in years of oppression. We do this not to claim or win a struggle, but to avoid losing. How do we remain Wide Open? Can we get off our island? And what can we resist together?
Design by Bas Koopmans
You will find the resistance spread across the island throughout the weekend, announced and in unexpected places. On Friday, you will meet fighters and thinkers in The Café. At the communal table of Café Bruintje, we talk from afternoon into evening, slowly transitioning from coffee to beer. With, among others, Maartje Wortel, Joost Oomen, and Jerry Afriyie. On Saturday morning, Lieke Marsman and Tom Hofland will lead us during The Service in the Nicolaaskerk. There is space on the church bench for lost souls and non-believers. And there is an organ.
Kids can organize a real protest march on Friday and Saturday afternoon in the pukkel: together with Amnesty International and the Naaierij, we will create a gigantic banner full of texts, drawings, and protests. On Sunday morning, we hope to see everyone at the final judgment. During The Session, we will explore what is still just – and what needs to be rectified, with Sinan Çankaya, Jerry Afriyie, Tamar de Waal, and, perhaps most importantly, you.
Resistance in pictures
The film program also connects to this theme and joins in the resistance. In the selection of films, we see how people everywhere in the world, from the Netherlands to French Guiana, from the Philippines to Afghanistan, stand up for their right to a decent existence and fight for freedom and a better world. From the actions of Extinction Rebellion on the A10 to the struggle for women's rights in Kabul and everything in between. Resistance is expressed not only in hard confrontations, but humor is also thrown into the struggle, along with beauty, dance, and love.
Pippi van Ommen, one of the founders of the Dutch branch of XR and subject in the documentary The System is present and will talk about her motivations and what it is like to be portrayed in a documentary. Also guest at the festival is Lidija Zelovic. She is the director of Home Game, in which she captured 30 years of her life and that of her family as refugees from the former Yugoslavia.
