The Promise

On Friday 23 May, director Daan Veldhuizen will be present for a discussion after the performance. A forgotten history, a lost future. In the sixties, it seemed that West Papua would become independent. But international interests, geopolitical power relations and economic profit considerations decided otherwise. With unique and impressively restored 35mm archive material, The Promise brings this history back to life and reveals how a people is systematically betrayed and oppressed.

When the Netherlands prepares for the independence of Dutch New Guinea, Indonesia resists. Under pressure from the United States and the United Nations, the area is transferred to Indonesia in 1962, with the promise of a referendum. But this so-called 'Act of Free Choice' turns out to be a sham. Since then, Papuans in Indonesia have been persecuted, expelled and murdered on a large scale - one of the most ignored genocides in the world. Against the background of the Cold War, the film shows how the future of West Papua was not only determined in diplomatic backrooms, but also by the business community, where influential Western elites, including Prince Bernhard, seemed to put economic interests above human rights.

While the vast mineral resources of West Papua are still being exploited by mostly Western companies, the indigenous population is systematically oppressed. With moving stories of Papuans in exile and their struggle for recognition, director Daan Veldhuizen paints a painful picture in The Promise of how colonialism made way for neo-colonialism – and how the world remained silent.