From 12-13 April 2019, the World Press Photo Festival 2019 comes back to Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam with a diverse program of presentations, screenings, meetups, and panel talks, showcasing the best of visual journalism.
This year’s program features special guest speakers including the 2019 Contests nominees in a series of themed discussions, Kathy Moran, Senior Editor, Natural History for National Geographic; Tina Rosenberg, co-writer of The New York Times Fixes column and co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network; MFON’s Laylah Amatullah Barrayn and Delphine Fawundu; artist Alexandra Bell, and the renowned Sem Presser Lecture, supported by DuPho by Aida Muluneh.
Anne Colenbrander, World Press Photo Foundation, Festival manager:
“Our purpose is to connect the world with the stories that matter, and the World Press Photo Festival is testament to that. This year, we celebrate the richness and diversity of high quality visual journalism through a dynamic program of presentations, screenings, meetups, on-site exhibitions and panel talks. In addition to the panel sessions, visitors will be among the first to see the winning work of the 2019 Contests in our revamped flagship exhibition, which premieres in De Nieuwe Kerk, and have a chance to enjoy our program of side events.”
Festival passes and day tickets can be purchased here. All tickets are valid on the day and provide access to partner locations at Foam, Huis Marseille and Het Ketelhuis. Friday and two-day passes also include entrance to the exclusive Opening Night of the World Press Photo Exhibition 2019 at De Nieuwe Kerk. Tickets for the Opening Night can be purchased here.
Panel discussions and presentations
Panel discussions and presentations will include, among other topics, debates on solutions journalism, conservation storytelling, the role of social justice in photography, the politics of representation, modern ways of storytelling, the need for underrepresented stories to be told, and investigative journalism.
In the ‘Solutions Visual Journalism Initiative’ session, co-writer of The New York Times Fixes column and co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network Tina Rosenberg and Geesje van Haren, editor in chief of Small Stream Media, explore what a solutions focus in visual journalism means, and will launch the World Press Photo Foundation’s Solutions Visual Journalism Initiative.
As National Geographic magazine’s senior editor for natural history projects, in the presentation ‘Conservation Storytelling at National Geographic’, Kathy Moran will share her experiences of producing and editing over 350 stories for the magazine. Moran is also the founding member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP).
In ‘The Politics of Representation’, multidisciplinary artist Alexandra Bell presents her work Counternarratives, which analyzes the ways media frameworks construct memory and inform discursive practices around race, politics, and culture. Adama Delphine Fawundu and Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, co-founders of MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora, and Dustin Thierry, a visual artist working on African/Caribbean queer diaspora in the Netherlands, will join her on a panel discussion addressing how to challenge these frameworks.
For the 2019 Sem Presser Lecture, supported by DuPho, photographer Aida Muluneh will delve into her journey as a photographer and an advocate for supporting the new generation of photographers who are the witnesses of the changing dynamics in their own countries across Africa.
See the full program here.
Side events
Alongside the presentations and panel talks, the festival will offer a special program of side events, thanks to its local and international partners. The Fotobus Society, an independent non-profit foundation promoting young photographic talents, and contributing to peace-building, political education, and international cultural and academic exchange, will visit Amsterdam’s Westergasfabriek during the festival to offer presentations, screenings and the chance to connect with the students behind this initiative.
The side events program also includes a safety meetup with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)’s Safety Technologist Ela Stapley, a Fotomat workshop, and documentary film screenings at Het Ketelhuis. Festival ticket holders will have the chance to shop a selection of photo books from the PhotoQ Bookshop, and discover the city’s most renowned photography museums, Huis Marseille and Foam, during the festival.
The World Press Photo Festival 2019 will also see the third edition of the Women’s Meetup, which will explore how to create a safe space for women in the photojournalism industry to report sexual harassment. The event will feature Anastasia Taylor-Lind, a photojournalist who has spent more than a decade documenting women, violence, and war issues, in conversation with Naina Bajekal, deputy international editor at Time Magazine.
On-site exhibitions
Visitors will be able to experience the nine winning productions of the 2019 Digital Storytelling Contest, discover the work of all 6x6 talents in a special exhibition, and look back to all World Press Photo yearbooks displaying the award-winning images of the World Press Photo contest. Learn more
World Press Photo Exhibition 2019
The flagship World Press Photo Exhibition 2019, displaying the winning work of the Photo and Digital Storytelling Contests, and the winner of the FotoEvidence Book Award with World Press Photo, premieres at De Nieuwe Kerk on 12 April at the opening night before it travels to 110 locations world wide.
From 13 April to 7 July, the exhibition will be open to the public. This year, the exhibition features a new design, including archival images selected from World Press Photo Foundation’s over 65-year history. Festival ticket holders can visit the exhibition on the opening night and during the weekend. Tickets for the opening night only are also on sale here.
-----
Note for editors
Media kit
Access the World Press Photo Festival 2019 media kit to discover the preliminary festival line-up and learn more about the speakers: bit.ly/WPPF-Festival-Media-kit
Media accreditation
Media are invited to attend the World Press Photo Festival by registering here: bit.ly/WPPh2019-Festival-Media. Please note: there is very limited capacity for this event. Deadline for registrations is April 5, 2019.
