Visions Du Réel Film Festival Opens Against Backdrop Of Change

The 57th edition of the festival aims to reflect a rapidly changing audiovisual landscape, marked by a proliferation of stories and formats.“Documentary is increasingly open, diversified and free,” emphasises artistic director Emilie Bujès.

The event will open with Cover-Up by Laura Poitras, in the presence of a number of big names, including Alain Berset, the current Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Carine Bachmann, Director of the Federal Office of Culture. The Oscar-winning American director portrays the American journalist Seymour Hersh, who revealed major scandals ranging from Watergate to the Vietnam War.

Another guest of honour is American filmmaker Kelly Reichardt.“What I particularly like about her is the way she revisits the myths of American cinema, such as the Western,” says Bujès.

+ Documentaries are the strength of Swiss cinema

This year's international competition is notable for the presence of three Swiss films among the 13 selected.“It's important not to force things,” she says, insisting that the selection is guided above all by artistic criteria.

Among them, Elsa Amiel's Dentro is a poetic exploration of a director's work in prison, while Emma Boccanfuso's Saudades Eternas is a family drama set in a Brazilian favela, and Jacqueline Zünd's Heat delves into the social contrasts of the Gulf States, between the privileged and their air conditioners and the migrants who work in temperatures of up to 50°C.

The national competition also reflects this diversity, with films ranging from the committed to the more intimate. Bujès cites En terrain neutre (Neutral ground) by Lausanne filmmaker Stéphane Goël and journalist Mehdi Atmani, about Swiss neutrality; Eternal Snow by Neuchâtel filmmaker François Kohler, shot in Nepal; and To the Moon and Back, by Elisa Gómez Alvarez, about young people training in the space industry.

Bujès also mentions What Comes from Sitting in Silence by Sophie Schrago, an anthropologist, documentary-maker and activist of Swiss-Indian origin, filmed in a women's Islamic court in India.

This content was published on Nov 21, 2022 Swiss Film Selection includes reports from Play Suisse that can be played all over the world with English subtitles.