Film Screening & After-Talk: Landscapes Under Pressure
Join us for an evening of documentary film screening and discussion at the Faculty of Arts. This programme brings together two powerful documentaries that explore the relationship between land, resources, and responsibility - locally and globally. What parallels can we draw between Nigeria and the Netherlands?
Niger Delta: Oiled and Abandoned (27 min)
For more than half a century, the Niger Delta -the heart of Nigeria’s oil industry-has suffered thousands of oil spills that have poisoned its land, rivers, and livelihoods. Niger Delta: Oiled & Abandoned is a powerful documentary told by Niger Deltans themselves: fishermen, farmers, activists, and community leaders who have lived through decades of pollution and neglect.
The film takes viewers into communities across Bayelsa and Rivers State, revealing the human cost of oil exploration, the silence of corporations, and the resilience of people determined to reclaim their environment. Raw and unfiltered, this is a story long overdue, told by those who have been left behind.
Bodem in Beweging (Soil on the Move) (52 min)
What does soil tell us about climate, food systems, and the future of our landscapes? Bodem in Beweging explores the often-invisible role of soil in times of ecological crisis. The documentary follows scientists, farmers, and innovators who are rethinking how we use, exhaust, and regenerate the ground beneath our feet, drawing attention to urgent questions around sustainability and responsibility.
Speakers:
Saskia Jeulink – Documentary filmmaker
Saskia Jeulink creates documentaries that give voice to the Dutch North. With a background in theatre, she has worked as a documentary director since 2013, focusing on landscape, community, and changing living environments. Her films have received several awards, including Best Groninger Film (non-fiction). Bodem in Beweging (Omroep HUMAN, 2023) was one of the most-watched Dutch TV documentaries of that year.
Nienke Busscher – Knowledge Platform Leefbaar Groningen (RUG)
Nienke Busscher is coordinator of the Knowledge Platform Leefbaar Groningen, where she leads interdisciplinary research on the societal impacts of gas extraction and earthquakes in the North of the Netherlands. Her work connects research, policy, and practice, with a focus on participation, trust, and the social consequences of energy extraction and transition.
Jackson Tamunosaki Jack – University of Groningen / Federal University Otuoke
Jackson Tamunosaki Jack is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Arts on the ERC-funded project Afrextract. His research examines the political ecology of resource extraction in Africa, with a particular focus on the toxic legacies of oil drilling in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, combining ethnographic and archival approaches.