Visions du Réel has revealed the line-up of projects selected for the 24th edition of VdR-Industry, the Swiss festival’s four-day professional platform designed to support documentary projects from development through to post-production. On this occasion, the Industry Days will run from 19-22 April during the festival’s 57th edition (17-26 April), under the new direction of Sabine Fayoux Cantillo.

A total of 31 projects have been selected across the programme’s different strands, chosen from among more than 600 submissions. The selected works are directed by 34 filmmakers representing 28 countries, with 61% of the projects led by women directors, 45% by first-time feature filmmakers, and 58% directed and produced by filmmakers from the majority world.

The VdR-Industry programme brings together projects at various stages of development and completion, offering filmmakers opportunities to connect with producers, distributors, broadcasters and financiers. The activities include the VdR-Pitching co-production forum for projects in late development, VdR-Work in Progress for films at the final stages of post-production, the VdR-Rough Cut Lab workshop for projects seeking feedback on an early edit, and the VdR-Development Lab, a nine-month programme accompanying emerging projects preparing to enter production.

According to head of industry Sabine Fayoux Cantillo, this year’s selection reflects a wide spectrum of voices and themes emerging from contemporary documentary filmmaking. “What stands out this year is not necessarily one single topic, but rather a shared sensibility across very different geographies and stories,” she noted, highlighting projects that explore the lasting impact of historical decisions, including themes such as colonial legacies, migration policies, political uprisings, land ownership and displacement.

The line-up also reflects the festival’s strong ties with returning filmmakers. Among them are Jean-Stéphane Bron, pitching his new project A Season in Europe; Belgian filmmaker Sofie Benoot, presenting Hello?!; and Ljubomir Stefanov, returning after the success of his Oscar-nominated Honeyland [+leggi anche:
recensione
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intervista: Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara …
intervista: Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir …
scheda film] to introduce The Vortex of Extinction. Lebanese filmmaker Myriam El Hajj also returns with Letters from a Ceasefire, co-directed with Iranian filmmaker Omid Hashemi.

Alongside these established names, the programme introduces several new voices. These include US filmmaker Todd Chandler, with TRADE; Russian-born director Vladlena Sandu, presenting the autobiographical project Transposition; and Argentinian filmmaker Francina Carbonell, who will pitch La Linda, a story examining Argentina’s economic crisis through a multi-generational family portrait.

The Industry Days will open with a conversation featuring Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras (Citizenfour [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film], All the Beauty and the Bloodshed), while three juries – including the VdR-Industry jury, the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award jury and the visions sud est jury – will award more than CHF 80,000 (approximately €82,000) in cash and in-kind prizes.

Here is the full list of this year's projects:

VdR-Pitching

Hello?! – Sofie Benoot (Belgium/Netherlands/Slovakia)
Production: Marc Goyens (Quetzalcoatl), Guillaume Malandrin (Altitude100), Steven Rubinstein Malamud (GROM), Matej Sotnik (guča films)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Koval Bhatia (France/USA/India)
Production: Dominique Barneaud (Bellota Films), Riham Ezzaldeen (What Took You So Long), Koval Bhatia (A Little Anarky Films)

A Season in Europe – Jean-Stéphane Bron (Switzerland/France)
Production: Lionel Baier (Bande à part Films)

La Linda – Francina Carbonell (Chile/Argentina)
Production: Maria Paz González (María una vez), Gema Juarez Allen (Gema Films)

TRADE – Todd Chandler (USA)
Production: Alysa Nahmias (AJNA Films), Keith Wilson (Breezy Circle)

Letters from a Ceasefire – Myriam El Hajj, Omid Hashemi (France)
Production: Julie Bergeron, Corentin Sénéchal, Daniel Chabannes (Reality Films/Epicentre Films)

Firing Line – Olga Gibelinda (Ukraine/Lithuania/Sweden)
Production: Olga Gibelinda (Malanka Studios), Stasys Baltakis (Film Jam), Jonas Kellagher (CommonGround Pictures)

To My Dearest – Grace Hsia (China/USA)
Production: Grace Hsia (Wild Angle Films), Wenli Liu

The Myth – Che-Chia Hsu (Taiwan/Netherlands)
Production: Jia Zhao (MUYI FILM), Che-Chia Hsu (MindMine Films)

Uganda – Daniel Mann (France)
Production: Fabrizio Polpettini (La Bête), Christophe Gougeon (Acqua alta)

Retrograd – Anders Mielcke Grønbæk, Esben Persson (Denmark)
Production: Kasper Lykke Schultz (Elk Film)

Stuttering Fluidity – How My Father Became a Sea Creature – Stefan Pavlovic (France/Netherlands)
Production: Eyal Sivan (Serendipity Films), Kostana Banovic (artTrace Foundation)

Transposition – Vladlena Sandu (Netherlands)
Production: Jos de Putter (Dieptescherpte BV)

The Vortex of Extinction – Ljubomir Stefanov (North Macedonia/USA)
Production: Maya E Rudolph (Louverture Films)

The Bubble of Bliss – Yasmin van Dorp (Netherlands)
Production: Hester Breunissen, Janneke Doolaard (DOXY FIXY)

VdR-Work in Progress

The Nights – Ana Bovino (Argentina)
Production: Natalia de la Vega (Navega Cine), Ana Bovino

My Skin and I – Milton Guillén, Fiona Guy Hall (Germany/USA/Nicaragua)
Production: Zorana Mušikić, May Odeh (Mayana Films), Milton Guillén, Fiona Guy Hall

A Road Less Travelled – Alexander Murphy (France/Ireland)
Production: Cosme Bongrain (Goodseed Productions), David Collins, Eamon Hughes (Samson Films)

BOOM! – Laura Plancarte (UK/France)
Production: Johnny Brewin (Boom Film Project Ltd), Christilla Huillard-Kann (Elda Productions)

Job 1:21 – Samuel Suffren (France/Haiti)
Production: Eugénie Michel Villette (Les Films du Bilboquet), Samuel Suffren (Kit Films)

Liberal Arts – Pacho Velez (USA)
Production: Scott Cummings, Pacho Velez (Pachoworks), Milo Borsuk

VdR-Rough Cut Lab

Holy Human Angel – Angeliki Aristomenopoulou (Greece/Iceland)
Production: Rea Apostolidis, Yuri Averof (Anemon Productions), Heather Millard (Compass Films), Vicky Miha (Asterisk*)

The People Outside – Jewel Maranan (Philippines)
Production: Jewel Maranan (Cinema Is Incomplete)

Captain – Laura Otálora (Colombia/Spain)
Production: Estephania Bonnett (Playlab Films), Nicolás Herreño (Tomato Content)

Summer Grass Winter Worm – Matjaz Pinter (Slovenia)
Production: Martin Saxer (Entangled Films)

VdR-Development Lab

Identity Curls – Nadège Butoyi (Burundi)
Production: Diane Kaneza (Mikadie Production), Jean Marie Ndihokubwayo (Clap4Creativity)

Auguries, Dreams and Soils – Luciana Decker Orozco (Bolivia)
Production: Camila Molina Wiethuchter (Omm Cine)

A Journey to Love Should Be Taken by Train, and Only Train – Elahe Esmaili (Iran/Norway)
Production: Elahe Esmaili, Fabien Greenberg (Antipode Films)

This Is Not a Wasteland – Sachin (India)
Production: Sachin (rohī collective)

VdR-Development Lab Finalists

Of the Trees Unmoved – Nino Benashvili (Georgia/Germany)
Production: Tekla Machavariani (Nushi Film), Eva Blondiau (Color of May)

YOUTH – Daria Zhuravel (Ukraine/France/Germany)
Production: Anastasiia Zakhilko (Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema), Victor Thomas (Les 48° Rugissants/Jeudi Soir), Kristof Gerega (Schuldenberg Films)