Femicide: A silent war on women?

Join us for a first-time movie screening event organized by the Jason Institute to raise awareness of the femicide crisis, a silent war on women that continues to threaten safety and equality worldwide.

Taking place during the ‘Orange the World’ campaign, this event aims to shed light on one of society’s most persistent and devastating forms of gender-based violence. The evening will feature the screening of a short movie written and directed by Natalia León. The movie ‘Como si la tierra se las hubiera tragado/As if swallowed by earth’ (with English subtitles) is centered around Olivia, a woman who returns to her hometown in Mexico and confronts the gender violence that surrounds her, both in its most extreme forms and in everyday instances through objectification and harassment. The film explores themes such as femicide, male violence, and the mistreatment of women, which forces Olivia to relive memories she finds impossible to reconcile with.

The short film screening will be followed by a structured discussion with field experts, Jason members, and attendees, exploring the complex interplay between victims, perpetrators, and the institutions that facilitate the persistence of this phenomenon, from social and cultural norms to legal structures.

We are excited to announce our speakers.

Esmée Ilisia Turpijn

Esmée Ilisia Turpijn is a research assistant working on the Dutch Femicide Monitor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, affiliated with Leiden University.  Her research focuses on intimate partner violence, femicide, and intimate partner femicide.

Over the coming years, she will carry out mixed-method research on children bereaved of their mother through intimate partner femicide, as part of the Dutch Femicide Monitor.

She holds a BSc degree in Security Studies and an MSc degree in Crisis and Security Management (governance of violence) from Leiden University. Currently, she is a Research Master’s student in Social Sciences at the University of Amsterdam, specialising in mixed-method research.

Lidewij Baart

Lidewij Baart is highly involved as an activist and action coordinator at Dolle Mina.

Dolle Mina is a historic Dutch feminist action group, relaunched in 2025 to address renewed threats to women’s rights. While they focus strongly on femicide and violence against women through marches and public actions, they also campaign for broader gender equality, including reproductive rights, bodily autonomy, equal pay, safe public spaces, and intersectional justice.

Luma Andrade

Luma Andrade leads communications at Project Tres, a Berlin-based NGO co-created with women in India, Kenya, and, starting next year, migrant communities in Germany.

The organization is committed to dismantling traditional aid models that perpetuate dependency and instead supports women in building sustainable livelihoods, fostering independence, and driving change within their own communities.

She holds a BSc in Political Science from Leiden University, where her thesis examined how Brazilian news media reporting on gender-based violence reinforced during the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced oppressive gender norms. She is currently completing an MBA at the University of São Paulo, researching how algorithmic targeting on social media shapes the self-perception of women-identifying users, and how brands can engage with digital audiences through feminist, ethical frameworks.

Her interests lie in examining how data systems, media, and development practices contribute to the structural oppression of women—and in exploring feminist strategies for resistance, accountability, and systemic change.

Martín Hernán

Martín Hernán Di Marco is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Governance and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University, campus The Hague.

His research focuses on violence perpetration, including intimate partner violence, femicide, male-on-male homicide, and sexual offenses. He holds a BA in Sociology and a PhD in Social Sciences from Buenos Aires University, as well as an MSc in Epidemiology from Lanús National University. He previously served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oslo’s Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law and was an ASEF bursary recipient in 2019, hosted by Prof. Tit Albreht at the Institute of Public Health of Slovenia.

Dr. Di Marco is Secretary of Working Group 11 on Violence and Society and Treasurer of the Research Committee on Biography and Society of the International Sociological Association. He is Managing Editor of NORMA and a member of the Editorial Review Board of the International Journal of Qualitative Methods.

His work explores violent performance through biographical approaches, including life course and narrative methods, examines desistance pathways including secondary and tertiary mechanisms, investigates bystander inaction with network analysis focused on close relations of perpetrators, and addresses broader macro-social processes that influence both violence and intervention dynamics.

We are looking forward to having the panel discussion with you.

Check out the movie trailer in this post!

📅 27 November 2025, walk-in from 18:30

📍Filmhuis Den Haag, Studio B

🎟️ Click here to sign up! (free of charge)

* Image Sources: Poster 1 images: AI-generated; Movie poster: Used under a promotional-use allowance provided by the distributor/rights holder.