22/03/2013 - From Sardinia to Rio via Fukushima and the Azores, the 35th edition of this Parisian festival explores the best of world documentaries

As more and more documentaries arrive in theatres and the boundary with the world of fiction becomes increasingly blurry, the 35th edition of the Festival du Cinéma du Réel opened yesterday in Paris, at the Pompidou Centre. Until March 31st, the event, which is one of the most widely recognized on the international scene in the field of documentaries, offers a high-quality programme prepared by its artistic director, Maria Bonsanti.

Six European productions or coproductions are amongst the 11 feature films in the international competition, which will be evaluated by a jury composed of Sébastien Lifshitz (César 2013 for Best Documentary for The Invisible), Claudine Nougaret and Francois Caillat, Luciano Rigolini and Charlotte Selb.

The consequences of military experiments in Sardinia for Dark Matter [+see also:
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Cinéma du réel, which also proposes an international competition for first films, has scheduled special screenings for La Maison de la Radio by Nicolas Philibert (discovered in Berlin and to be released by Les Films du Losange on April 3rd), the German-Polish coproduction F*ck For Forest by Michal Marczak, Mes entretiens filmés by Belgian director Boris Lehman and a conference-performance by duo Joana Hadjithomas – Khalil Joreige (video interview) around their film, Lebanese Rocket Society.

Also worth mentioning, a tribute to Anglo-American filmmaker Stephen Dwoskin (a leading figure in experimental cinema, who died last June), with the screening of several of his works, including his posthumous film Age Is… which will premiere at the festival. 

(Translated from French)