28/10/2021 - The festival is returning with great fanfare via a 27th edition celebrating diversity and multidisciplinarity in audiovisual production

Ever attentive to new developments in the field of audiovisual production, the Geneva International Film Festival (5-14 November) is carrying on along the road of innovation, offering up an intriguing and original line-up focusing on film productions, TV series and digital creation. Meanwhile, the Geneva Digital Market (8-12 November) - an observatory of new technologies and innovation – will be celebrating its nine-year anniversary in the legendary setting of the Le Plaza movie theatre.

Steered for the very first time by Anaïs Emery (artistic co-founder of the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival), this latest edition of the GIFF is set to pay tribute to the diversity of fluid and ever evolving audiovisual productions. As confirmed by its artistic director, the GIFF is imposing itself as a powerful festival where new technologies complement humanity rather than defying it.

This year’s programme, which opens with a world premiere of the performance It’s Alive: A Journey into Invisible Cinema by Stephan Eicher, consists of 150 works which boast innovative narrative forms, formal courage and radicality. A great many European productions and co-productions have been selected for the International Feature Film Competition, including Ghost Song [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by France’s Nicolas Peduzzi, which explores a majestic, modern-day Valkyrie; Spanish director Ainhoa Rodríguez’s first film Mighty Flash [+see also:
film review
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interview: Ainhoa Rodríguez
film profile], which takes viewers on a poetic and somewhat surreal journey through the suffocating folds of the rural patriarchy; For A Fistful of Fries [+see also:
film review
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interview: Jean Libon and Yves Hinant
film profile], a French-Belgian co-production by Jean Liban and Yves Hinant whose protagonists literally need to save their skin; Theo and the Metamorphosis [+see also:
film review
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interview: Damien Odoul
film profile] by Damien Odoul, a poetic odyssey whose characters experiment with a level of freedom transcending the rules of a society which tries to homogenise its many citizens; El gran movimiento [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Bolivia’s Kiro Russo, a mystical ode to the intangible world around us; Petrov’s Flu [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] by Russia’s Kirill Serebrennikov, an aesthetically grandiose and destabilising punk work; and Costa Brava, Lebanon [+see also:
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film profile] by Lebanese director Mounia Akl, which follows a family who must come to terms with an increasingly uncertain future.

The Virtual Territories section, meanwhile, will treat Genevan audiences to 40 immersive works and interactive installations. For this year’s edition, the GIFF is unveiling a new retrospective programme exploring the history of television, entitled POP TV-The Untold Story of the Small Screen, which will showcase the best and worst offshoots of the now indissoluble link between TV and modern-day culture.

The Geneva Award, which recognises artists’ exceptional careers, will this year be entrusted to Italian director Luca Guadagnino, an author whose artistic universe questions concepts of inclusivity and “normality”, while the Film&Beyond Prize, which rewards the work of multidisciplinary artists, will go to the comic book artist, screenwriter and director Riad Sattouf, who will be attending the festival to deliver a masterclass.

In terms of the high points of this 27th edition, in the category of TV series there are several autumn releases not to be missed, such as the Danish production Kamikaze by Annete K. Olsen and the ambitious Hungarian spy story The Informant [+see also:
interview: Bálint Szentgyörgyi
series profile] by Bàlint Szentgyörgyi. Also worth a mention are three unseen Swiss TV series: Sacha [+see also:
series review
series profile] by Léa Fazer and Nicole Castioni, which takes viewers on an intriguing and surprising journey exploring the (real) life of a complex character as she bravely digs up her past; Tschugger by David Constantin, a thriller portraying a far less glossier version of Switzerland than we’d expect, by way of humorous dialogues in the Upper Valais dialect; and La vie de J.C. created by Zep and directed by Gary Grenier.

Film highlights, meanwhile, include the presentation of Takashi Miike’s trilogy entitled The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji-Final (in an international premiere), the poignant title Nobody Has to Know [+see also:
film review
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interview: Bouli Lanners
film profile] by Bouli Lanners, and the virtual animation Madrid Noir by James A. Castillo. Last but not least, Eric Gravel’s Full Time [+see also:
film review
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interview: Eric Gravel
film profile] will ensure the festival closes in style.

(Translated from Italian)