‘Theatre of Violence’ explores the varying definitions of justice, structures of power, historical legacies, and the complex interplay of human emotions that lead to violence. Emil Langballe and Lukasz Konopa’s film seeks to underline the roots of violence within a system that is supposed to impart fairness, dissecting its underlying causes with the aid of an investigative approach that makes use of archival footage from conflict zones and carefully analyses examples of acts of terrorism. When he was 9, Dominic Ongwen was abducted and conscripted into Joseph Kony's army of Ugandan child soldiers. Approximately 30 years later, he is on trial for war crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The accusations unfold as a series of judicial and moral dilemmas, shaking the very foundations of concepts like guilt. ‘Theatre of Violence’ ultimately examines a broader idea of violence as a form of power, using the fate of one accused individual to expose the vulnerabilities within systems and governments. What this dispensation of justice reveals to us is, in fact, that the executioner could be himself a victim, as much as a catalyst for change in a world often defined by conflict. (Carmen Lascoiu)