Visions du Réel film festival opens against backdrop of change

"Documentary is increasingly open, diversified and free," says the festival's artistic director Emilie Bujès (right). Keystone-SDA

Visions du Réel is establishing itself as a landmark in a world where "reality is fading away". The documentary film festival, which runs in Nyon, western Switzerland, from Friday until April 26, has seen a sharp increase in output and record diversity, confirming its central role.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

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

Swiss cinema in competition

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.

A new section

A “Borderlight” section has been added, devoted to works of fiction with a close link to reality. Among the films selected for this new category is Tristan Forever by Zurich-born Tobias Nölle, based on the story of a former member of Médecins Sans Frontières.

The works on show also reflect the tensions of the contemporary world, with a slight time shift. “There are several films linked to Ukraine, Israel and Iran,” she says.

In a landscape saturated with images, the festival confirms its role as a compass. “Documentaries allow us to delve deeply into subjects,” says Emilie Bujès, insisting on the need for a critical and nuanced viewpoint.

The programme includes 164 films from 75 countries, out of nearly 3,700 entries, up 23% on 2023.

Finally, this year marks a turning point for the festival with the announcement of the departure of Emilie Bujès. In post since 2018, she will be leaving at the end of July to join the Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF). “I’m infinitely grateful for the freedom and the trust,” she says, referring to “an essential step” in her career.

Adapted from French by AI/ts

How we work 

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.  

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at [e-mail]