From 14 to 17 April, Nyon will host VdR-Industry, the section of the Visions du Réel festival dedicated to industry professionals. During four intense and fruitful days, cinematic creation will be put under the spotlight in an environment conducive to exchange and collaboration. For this 2024 edition, VdR-Industry will be under the direction of Alice Burgin, who will be taking over from Madeline Robert. About this year’s selection, she says: “The diversity of the VdR-Industry programme reflects not only the cinematic and aesthetic values animating Visions du Réel as a festival, but also that of a contemporary world in constant evolution and with which we must enter into a dialogue,” adding that “this year’s projects are fascinating and innovative, and they contain a form of urgency which cannot be ignored. They explore the most original and powerful possible approaches for revisiting the past and casting a critical eye on the present, in order to courageously turn their gaze towards an uncertain future.”  

In total, 29 projects coming from 30 countries have been selected, 13 of which are debut features. During VdR-Industry, professionals will be able to take part in four distinct types of activities: two main events, VdR-Pitching and VdR-Work in Progress, will welcome 15 projects in the making and six in their final phase, while VdR-Rough Cut lab will welcome four projects, and VdR-Development Lab four more. These 29 “singular points of view,” as described in the press release, will tackle hot topics that concern us all, such as current conflicts, masculinity, economic migration, or religious extremism.  

VdR-Industry will welcome familiar faces of the festival, such as Mehran Tamadon (Where God Is Not [+lee también:
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Support will also be given to new talents from around the world, with the selection of 13 debut features, including those of Ross McClean (Beyond the Fold), of Palestinian directors Mayar Hamdan and Shaima Al Tamimi (The Myth of Mahmoud) and of Katy Scoggin (Flood), known for her many years of collaboration with director, producer and artist Laura Poitras.

For the Industry jury which will hand out prizes worth over 80,000 francs in total (to projects taking part in VdR-Pitching and VdR-Work In Progress), we can count on Rémi Burah, Lisa Kleiner Chanoff and Kristy Matheson. The Eurimages jury, which will give the prestigious Eurimages prize for co-production development worth 20,000 francs, is meanwhile composed of Eleni Chandrinou, Susana Santos Rodrigues and Vadim Jendreyko. Finally, the Visions sud est jury (10,000 francs) is composed of Zsuzsi Bánkuti, Meret Ruggle and John Canciani.

The selected projects :

VdR-Pitching
Burning Daddy – Tana Gilbert (Chile/Germany)
Production: Paula Castillo (Errante), Dirk Manthey (Dirk Manthey Film)

Dreams of the Wild Oaks – Marjan Khosravi (Iran/Spain/France)
Production: Milad Khosravi (Seven Springs Pictures), Stephanie Von Lukowicz (Lukimedia)

Fixing the War – Vadym Ilkov & Clare Stronge (Ukraine/Ireland)
Production: Oleksandra Kravchenko (Moon Man), Gary Lennon (Plainsong Films)

GEN_ – Gianluca Matarrese (France/Italy)
Production: Dominique Barneaud (Bellota Films), Donatella Palermo (Stemal Entertainment)

Life of Tipu – Bob Gallagher (Ireland)
Production: Ciarán Deeney, Séamus Waters (EZ Films), Jeanie Igoe (Homebird Productions)

Magnetic Letters – Demie Dangla (Philippines/France/Germany)
Production: Gale Osorio (Binisaya Movement Inc.), Philippe Djivas (Dynamo Production), Laura Kloeckner (Seera Films)

On the Way – Natalia Dolgowska (Poland)
Production: Anna Gawlita, Marta Szymanowska (Kijora Film)

Once You Shall Be One of Those Who Lived Long Ago – Per Bifrost & Alexander Rynéus (Sweden)
Production : Jonas Selberg Augustsén (Iris Film)

Pratopia – Sean Ali Wang (the Netherlands)
Production : Yia Zhao (MUYI Film)

She Wrestles – Charles Fairbanks (United States)
Production: Lucila Moctezuma (She Wrestles Documentary)

The House of Shadows – Amine Hattou (Algeria/France/Germany)

The Last Days of The Hospital – Mehran Tamadon (France/Switzerland)
Production: Delphine Morel (TS Productions), Elena Tatti (Box Productions)

The Shadow of Yolüja – Hanz Rippe Gabriel (Colombia)
Production : Fernanda Pineda (Paramo Films)

Totemic – Stéphanie Barbey (Switzerland/Germany)
Production: Luc Peter, Katia Monla (Intermezzo Films), Dirk Manthey (Dirk Manthey Film)

To the Moon and Back – Elisa Gómez Alvarez (Switzerland)
Production: Palmyre Badinier (Rita Productions)

VdR–Work in Progress 
At Least to See the Ocean – Pablo Lozano (Dominican Republic)
Production: Pablo Lozano, Juan Antonio Bisonó (La Felicidad)

Beyond the Fold – Ross McClean (United Kingdom/Ireland/United States)
Production: Bronte Stahl (Here and Elsewhere Films), Ross McClean (Nightstaff), Roísin Geraghty (Little Rose Films)

Flood – Katy Scoggin (United States)
Production: Will Lennon (Archelon Films)
Executive producers: Laura Poitras, Nico Opper

Listening to the World – Yelizaveta Smith (Ukraine/Germany/Sweden)
Production: Eugene Rachkovsky, Olha Beskhmelnytsina (Tabor), Antonia Kilian (Pink Shadow Films), Mario Adamson (Sisyfor Film Production)

Shifting Baselines – Julien Elie (Canada)
Production: Andreas Mendritzki, Aonan Yang (GreenGround Productions)

The Myth of Mahmoud – Shaima Al Tamimi & Mayar Hamdan (Qatar/Palestine/Kenya/Lebanon/Yemen/United States)
Production: Shaima Al Tamimi (Y2P Studios)

VdR–Rough Cut Lab 
Cuitá, Stone from the Sky – Antonia Cattan (Brazil)
Production: Isabel Lessa, Julia Murat (Esquina Film Production)

Moondove – Karim Kassem (Lebanon)
Production: Karim Kassem (Screen Productions)

TAU – Timofey Stekolshuk (Georgia/Germany)
Production: Sergey Yahontov, Archil Gelovani (Independent Film Project), Pavel Karykhalyn (Eversince GmbH)

The Second Death – Philip Cartelli (United States)
Production: Philip Cartelli (Nusquam)

VdR-Development Lab
Leaf Remnants – María José Alarcón Ardila (Colombia)
Production: Lina Sampedro Cárdenas

My Grandparents’ Window Overlooks a Cemetery – Lamis Al Mohamad (Italt/Syria)
Production: Lamis Al Mohamad

Plastic Atlantis – Samira Vera-Cruz (Cape Verde/Senegal)
Production: Pedro Soulé (KS Cinema), Yanis Gaye (Gorée Cinéma)

The Unlikely Hero – Ishani Roy (India)
Production: Nisheeth Kumar (IndieFilm Collective)