17/10/2024 - The Geneva Film Festival is celebrating its 30-year anniversary with a special edition inviting attendees to contemplate three decades of audiovisual fiction, as well as some spicy new additions

Rich and diverse, the GIFF (Geneva International Film Festival) (running from 1-10 November) has always been a place for stimulating discussion between the audience and film-sector professionals. In this respect, this year’s press release stresses, "This heritage, which the foundation and festival team are proud of, encourages us to continually explore new film experiences and to seek out emerging forms of audiovisual fiction." The GIFF has also always been attentive to changes in the film industry and, in this anniversary edition of the event, the audience will get the opportunity (once again) to delve into the past as well as looking to the future of the audiovisual world, in all its complexity.

A variety of new additions will see the light of day this year: the first, by the name of the Swiss Series Storytelling Award, is a prize dedicated to narrative brilliance in Swiss series, while the second, Swissphoria, consists of an exceptional line-up revisiting iconic Swiss works using the latest technological advances.

Morgan Neville’s US title Piece by Piece is set to open the festivities, an animated film which sees Pharrell Williams telling his own personal and professional story with the help of his unique musical universe. The number of European productions and co-productions selected for the International Feature Film Competition is likewise significant (9 out of 10). These include French titles Wild Diamond [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agathe Riedinger
film profile] by Agathe Riedinger, which paints an uncompromising portrait of a young woman fascinated by reality TV, In His Own Image [+see also:
film review
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interview: Thierry de Peretti
film profile] by French director Thierry de Peretti, homing in on a generation headed up by a young photographer called Antonia working for Corse-Matin in Ajaccio, and Winter in Sokcho [+see also:
film review
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interview: Koya Kamura
film profile] by Koya Kamura, which explores a Korean woman’s search for identity following her move to France. There’s also All We Imagine as Light [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by Indian director Payal Kapadia, which won Cannes’ Grand Prize and follows three women trying to find their true selves, and The Shameless [+see also:
film review
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interview: Konstantin Bojanov
film profile] by Bulgarian artist and director Konstantin Bojanov, telling the dramatic story of a sex worker also unfolding in India (and which was also rewarded in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section via the Best Actress trophy). Jostling alongside them is September Says [+see also:
film review
interview: Ariane Labed
film profile] by French-Greek director Ariane Labed, which examines the close relationship between two sisters and their mother, The Girl with the Needle [+see also:
film review
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interview: Besir Zeciri
interview: Directors Talks @ European …
interview: Magnus von Horn
film profile] by Denmark’s Magnus Von Horn, which paints another powerful portrait of a woman who’s trying to survive in the city of Copenhagen in the first post-war period, The Other Way Around [+see also:
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interview: Jonás Trueba
film profile] by Spain’s Jonás Trueba, which homes in on a couple who are organising a party to celebrate their separation, and Wishing On a Star [+see also:
film review
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interview: Peter Kerekes
film profile] by Slovakia’s Peter Kerekes, which is a documentary about a Neapolitan astrologer and his clients.

An array of European series have likewise been selected for the International Series Competition, including Bellas artes [+see also:
series review
series profile] by Mariano Cohn and Andrés and Gaston Duprat, revealing the underbelly of the art world, British series Big Mood by Camilla Whitehill, exploring friendship and mental illness, Boarders by Daniel Lawrence Taylor, a teen-comedy drama unfolding in the boarding school of a prestigious private school, Bullshit by Milad Alami which plunges us into the past of a very rock and roll version of Denmark, sharp societal pop series Chameleon by Kristof Hoefkens, the funny and offbeat series Iris by French director Doria Tillier, Love Sucks by Marc O. Seng, which sees two characters sharing a dark and onerous secret, detective series Piggy by Trond Håndlykken Kvernstrøm, and Patrik Gyllström’s thriller series unfurling in the tech world The Pirate Bay.

This year will likewise see the festival welcoming the Geneva Digital Market (GDM), which is the only event in Switzerland revolving around audiovisual innovation and which acts as a broadcasting and co-production platform for the creative industries.

(Translated from French)