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FESTIVALS Switzerland

Documentaries and politics at Visions du Réel

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The 12th edition of the Visions du Réel Festival, the world event for documentary filmmaking directed by Jean Perret, will be held in Nyon from April 24-30.

Of the 160 films presented, approximately 20 have been selected for the international competition. These include Arcana by Chile’s Cristobal Vicente, The Kick by Germany’s Andres Veiel and L’image à parole by Switzerland’s Michel Favre.

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Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh (S21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine) and Israel’s Avi Mograbi (Gerush) have also been invited to hold workshops, which have made the event famous. Other big names from cinema that will be at Nyon include Atom Egoyan, Peter Fleischmann and Alain Cavalier.

Along with the section reserved for domestic films (Helvétiques), Switzerland is well represented this year with a film in the Investigations section (Sans papiers by Andreas Hoessli), five titles in the Regards Neufs programme, Special Swiss-Japanese screenings on the theme of "All about me" and a tribute to a pioneer of the field, Jacqueline Veuve. Now 70, Veuve started out in the 1960s and her oeuvre has been marked by films on the land and local crafts (Chronique paysanne en Gruyère, Chronique vigneronne), as well as by her feminist, humanist and cinematographic convictions (Delphine Seyrig, portrait d’une comète, Journal de Rivesaltes 1941-42, La petite dame du Capitole).

Thanks to an initiative by Nicolas Bideau, head of the cinema section of the Swiss Ministry of Culture, Swiss film policy will also be the focus of several debates and meetings, most notably on defining the distinction between film and television documentaries.

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(Translated from French)

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