Orange the World 2025
Film screening: 'Blauwe ballen en andere verkrachtingsmythes' by director Sunny Bergman
- Date
- Tuesday 2 December 2025
- Time
- Explanation
- Registration starts at 16.45 hrs, room opens at 17.00 hrs.
- Location
-
Schouwburgstraat
Schouwburgstraat 2
2511 VA The Hague - Room
- 0.06
During Orange the World 2025, the documentary Blauwe Ballen en andere verkrachtingsmythes is screened. This film examines persistent myths around sexual violence and the barriers survivors face when seeking justice.
Programme
- Welcome
- Introduction director Sunnny Bergman by professor Security and Interventions Marieke Liem
- Screening of Blauwe Ballen en andere verkrachtingsmythes
- Panel discussion and Q&A with the director and audience, moderated by Karlijn Karthaus
In Blauwe ballen en andere verkrachtingsmythes, filmmaker Sunny Bergman examines the epidemic scale of sexual violence in the Netherlands and the persistent myths that enable it.
Through intimate conversations with survivors, filmed in a reflective mobile installation that travels the country, and unprecedented access to police and courtroom settings, the documentary exposes how systemic gaps and cultural attitudes continue to fail victims.
Bergman also reflects on her own experiences, confronting the grey areas of sexual behaviour, and challenges common beliefs such as "his word against hers" and "one witness is no witness."
This deeply personal and investigative film asks pressing questions: Why are so few perpetrators prosecuted? What role do societal narratives and victim-blaming play? And what needs to change?
Sunny Bergman
Sunny Bergman is a documentary filmmaker, writer, and public commentator whose work often addresses gender, identity, and social inequality. In Blauwe Ballen en andere verkrachtingsmythes, she merges personal reflection with investigative storytelling to unpack the systemic roots of sexual violence.
She employs a mix of visual narrative, observational footage, and personal testimony to question the cultural frameworks that sustain rape myths, such as ideas about consent, power, shame, and silence.
Dr. Marieke Liem
Dr. Marieke Liem is professor of Security and Interventions at Leiden University, where she and her team coordinate the European Homicide Monitor. A graduate of University of Cambridge in the U.K., Marieke Liem completed her PhD in Forensic Psychology from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Before joining the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, she was a Marie Curie fellow at Harvard University. Her research interests involve interpersonal violence, with specific research projects on domestic homicide (including intimate partner homicide), homicide by the mentally ill, homicide followed by suicide, the effects of confinement on violent offenders, and international comparative research on lethal violence.
Karlijn Karthaus
Karlijn Karthaus is a visual storyteller with a background in the corporate world, now working at the intersection of art and social commentary. Her primary medium is photography, through which she explores themes of identity and the often-invisible pressures experienced by individuals within broader social structures.
Her work delves into the nuanced dynamics of societal expectations, gender roles, aging, and personal freedom. Portraiture plays a central role in her projects, which often blend observational and constructed imagery to create compelling visual narratives. Depending on the subject and intended audience, she also incorporates archival materials, installations, and moving images into her practice.
By capturing both the quiet struggles and subtle triumphs that shape everyday life, Karthaus invites viewers to reflect on their own identities and relationships within their social environments. Her work aims to foster dialogue around critical social issues, prompting a deeper understanding of the systems that shape us.
Orange the World
By screening this documentary during the Orange the World campaign, we aim to demystify persistent rape myths, highlight the challenges survivors face in seeking justice, and foster societal reflection on how systems and culture can change. The film encourages critical engagement with how power, gender, and silence intersect