On the 23rd of March, 2026, HCSS strategic analyst Irina Patrahau will discuss critical raw materials with Benjamin Sprecher and Fons Jansen at the Movies That Matter festival, following the screening of the film Deep Rising. They will delve deeper into the questions: how can Europe obtain critical raw materials and become less dependent on other countries in this regard? And how do economic interests relate to sustainability and international responsibility?
Deep Rising
The program begins with a word of welcome from Cecilia Thorfinn, Acting Head of the European Commission Representation in the Netherlands, after which the audience will watch the film Deep Rising, by Matthieu Rytz.
To power the green economy, a new frontier is found for extracting minerals: the deep sea. But mining the ocean floor may have enormous unforeseen consequences. And who really owns the deep sea anyway? With amazing, otherworldly images, Deep Rising is fantastically narrated by Jason Momoa (Aquaman, Game of Thrones).
‘The future is metallic,’ Gerard Barron, CEO of Deep Green Resources, tells potential investors. His company is developing ways to extract metallic nodules from the ocean floor, which he claims will open the pathway to a sustainable planet. According to Barron, the world’s imminent electric car boom can be fully energized by these deep sea treasures.
Barron’s green pitch gathers much enthusiasm. However, experts like marine geologist Sandor Mulsow are fiercely against mining the ocean bottom. These minerals are crucial to sustaining the ocean biodiversity – which in turn is crucial to sustaining life on earth. Besides, the deep seas are determined by treaty to be ‘common heritage of humankind’ – in other words: owned by us all. But the organization that should defend this status, seems easily manipulated. And are the indigenous people of Papua New Guinea, whose livelihoods are threatened by the practice, listened to at all?
Q&A: How can Europa become less dependent on other countries for Critical Raw Materials?
After the film, moderator Servaz van Berkum will discuss critical raw materials with experts Irina Patrahau of The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS), Benjamin Sprecher of Delft University of Technology and Fons Janssen of Team Europa. They will delve deeper into the questions: how can Europe obtain critical raw materials and become less dependent on other countries in this regard? And how do economic interests relate to sustainability and international responsibility?
- Irina Patrahau is a Strategic Analyst and Chair of the Energy Security and Critical Minerals initiatives within the broader Geoeconomics research pillar at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. Irina’s work is focused on the impact of geopolitical tensions and strategic competition on the security and resilience of energy and raw materials supply chains in the EU.
- Benjamin Sprecher is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering with main research interests in sustainable design, quantification of environmental impacts, and industrial ecology. His current work explores how to quantification of environmental impacts can inform sustainable design, and how decisions at the product design level relate to system level concepts such as circular economy. His PhD and postdoc were forcussed on critical raw materials and supply chain resilience, and he remains working on these topics as well.
- Fons Janssen has an academic background in biotechnology and process engineering. He currently works as a strategic policy officer at the Municipality of Roerdalen. Fons is a guest speaker at Team Europa: a group of volunteer experts on European themes from the European Commission representation in the Netherlands.
Source: Movies that matter, 23 March 2026
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