IDFA x De Balie: Democracy

Over more than two years, Democracy follows the laborious process of drafting the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, a controversial issue among European policymakers. A rare glimpse into the unwieldy and opaque mechanism of EU politics.

Few things are more unwieldy and lacking in transparency than European politics. Who’s really running the show in Brussels? What’s the true role of the European Parliament or the Council of Ministers? And how do the new laws and regulations get made? For two years, Democracy followed several key figures behind the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. The film starts in 2014 with the European Parliament approving the new regulation, and then leaps two years back to the start of the negotiations.

Rapporteur Jan Philipp Albrecht is the German Green Party politician tasked with steering and overseeing the entire process. We see him talking with lobbyists and civil rights activists, joining fringe gatherings and debates, participating in think tanks, talking with colleagues in the corridors of power, and reporting to EU Commissioner Viviane Reding. Often patient but sometimes visibly frustrated, he counters opponents’ arguments about a new regulation that met particularly intense resistance from big businesses working with large amounts of personal data.

De Balie has selected six of the best films featured at IDFA. Documentaries on a wide range of subjects, taking you from the intimacy of the therapy room to the microscopic world of fungi. Despite their diversity, these films share a common thread: they are auteur-driven works, created with a distinct artistic vision. Films that use the camera as a tool of expression, rather than mere registration. Join us after each screening for a conversation hosted by De Balie, with filmmakers and notable guests.