A big festival for small screens: Visions du Réel goes virtual again

The pandemic looms over the Swiss documentary festival, but is far from being the main topic. Some films tackle the social effects of quarantine, such as Pacho Velez's "Searchers", which explores how social networks helped to compensate for the loneliness of isolation. Visions du Réel

After last year's record edition during the Covid-19 lockdown, Visions du Réel – Switzerland’s largest documentary film festival that opened on April 15 – faces the challenge of repeating its success amid “Zoom fatigue” and high expectations from industry professionals. Organisers hope a new virtual platform will do the trick.

A year ago, Visions du Réel was about to begin when Switzerland implemented its first Covid-19 lockdown. “We just had five weeks to move entirely online, so we barely had time to think of anything,” says Émilie Bujès, the festival’s artistic director. If she had realised the work ahead, she would have “freaked out”, she adds.

Moving the festival online was not just a matter of cancelling the theatrical screenings and creating virtual sessions. Many films, and all of those in competition, had chosen Visions du Réel as the main occasion for their world premieres. Would the producers and distributors agree to premiere their films to a virtual audience, without ovations, launch parties and business meetings? 

Bujès was relieved to learn that practically all of them, with only one exception, were willing to move ahead. “We were very lucky with the timing because journalists were very keen on covering things and the audience at home was a bit desperate,” she says. 

Last year’s festival set a record with more than 60,500 spectators, many more than usual, according to Bujès. She was also pleased with the press coverage and the industry presence. 

Émilie Bujès made a career as a curator of contemporary art before becoming director of Visions du Réel in 2017. “I can see changes in the way documentary films are perceived. They used to be the poor genre of cinema, not only in terms of economics. Now you can see them in all the major festivals and getting big awards. I think that non-fiction is benefitting from having a more valuable position, and I’ve been trying to push things further in this direction”. Sigfredo Haro

A year later, with Zoom fatigue 

But this year’s edition, running until April 25, poses a different challenge altogether. A year ago, online events and video chat platforms were novel, says Bujès. Today, “Zoom fatigue” has entered the lexicon for many.  
 
And last year, many of the films were exceptionally made available for viewing outside Switzerland, which helped keep streaming numbers high. Bujès and her team quickly approached producers for the rights to stream some films abroad, and many were receptive because of the exceptional pandemic circumstances. But this year’s offering will be limited to viewers located in the Alpine country, except for accredited industry professionals. 

That left Bujès and her team faced with the immense challenge of keeping viewership high putting on a virtual festival one year into the pandemic.  

First, as is the case every year, the director and a selection team of five people had to watch around 2,700 films to select the ones they would screen – a process complicated this time round by physical distance. 

“Usually we watch the films, exchange impressions and talk along the way,” says Bujès. “In the screening room this process is very fluid, but remotely it is much more time-consuming.”   

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As artistic director of a documentary film festival, Émilie Bujès has to consider the increasing use of artificial devices (re-enactments, staged scenes) that blur the line between fiction and non-fiction. “In the history of doc films, these things have always been there. It’s just that today they are more visible. Even Jean Rouch [who “invented” the so-called “cinéma vérité”] made use of some artifices. What is important for us, as we deal with the ‘cinéma du réel’ [the cinema of the real], is that it is about someone who wants to express and translate something into cinema, something that relates to reality, and if at some point it requires a bit of fiction, I’m really fine with it. But it’s hard to decide where to set boundaries.” Sébastien Agnetti

“Edna”, by Erik Rocha (Brazil 2021). Living next to the Transbrasiliana motorway in Brazilian Amazonia, Edna is a witness to a land in ruins built upon the massacres perpetrated by the military dictatorship. Using her personal journal, the film draws a magnificent portrait of this survivor who, with unheard strength and courage, has persevered in resisting this “endless” war. Visions du Réel

“After the Flood”, Yuan Zheng (China, 2021) The Chinese metropolis of Lanzhou lies along the Yellow River. Over a four-year period, the director Yuan Zheng follows the traces that could have been left by the great developments on the river, undertaken in the 1950s. But strangely, nothing seems to remain of this huge upheaval and the population, suffering from a general amnesia, continue with their lives. The film is in the Burning Light competition, comprehending medium length and feature films, dedicated to new vocabularies and expressions and to the research of daring formats and narratives. Visions du Réel

“Splinters”, Natalia Garayalde (Argentina 2020) Director Natalia Garayalde was 12 years old when the Río Tercero munitions factory in Argentina explod in 1995. Equipped with her father’s camcorder, along with her younger brother, she documents the scale of the disaster in their town. 20 years later, she digs out these archives and uses new ones to retrace this attack by the State, the smell of ammonia of which still fills the air. Visions du Réel

“1970”, Tomasz Wolski (Poland 2021) 1970. Striking workers in communist Poland demonstrate against price increases. In the dignitaries’ offices, tension and violent repression grow as the revolt intensifies. Using stop motion animation to bring the telephone recordings to life, Tomasz Wolski composes a highly precise and prodigious film. Visions du Réel

“Bellum – the Daemon of War”, David Herdies, Georg Götmark (Sweden, Denmark, 2021) War has always been the fate of humanity, its form evolving with “progress” over the ages. But the advent of artificial intelligence and the hyper-digitalisation of weapons is a game changer. In these new conflicts, which are increasingly remotely operated, the front seems to take the shape of a new demon. Visions du Réel

“The First 54 Years”, Avi Mograbi (France, Germany, Israel, Finland, 2021) A highly respected filmmaker, Avi Mograbi has relentlessly dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his work. In the form of a sarcastic and sombre military occupation manual, he looks over and denounces this 54-year history through the testimonies of veteran soldiers having served in the Israeli army. Visions du Réel

“Our Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege)”, Abdallah Al-Khatib (France, 2021) During the Syrian civil war, the city of Yarmouk, home to thousands of Palestinians, became the scene of dramatic and ferocious fighting. “Our Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege)” is a film that follows the destiny of civilians during the brutal sieges that took place in the wake of the battles. With his camera, Abdallah Al-Khatib composes a love song to a place that proudly resists the atrocities of war. Visions du Réel

“The Moon Represents my Heart”, Juan Martín Hsu (Argentina, Taiwan, 2021) Haunted by the tragic death of his father, Juan Martín Hsu, a young Argentinian filmmaker of Taiwanese origin, returns to Taipei to film the reunion with his mother. Reality and fiction blend in a moving personal quest in which an incredible portrait of a Mother Courage stands out from the picture of a family saga marked by uprooting. Visions du Réel

“The Mushroom Speaks”, Marion Neumann (Switzerland, 2021) Under each mushroom, there hides a network that is invisible to the naked eye and that is evolving beneath our feet. The Mushroom Speaks ventures into this underground world, to hear what these organisms have to tell us. An initiatory journey to discover the fungal realm, the planet’s real immune system. Visions du Réel

“Les Guérisseurs”, Marie-Eve Hildbrand (Switzerland, 2021) The film that opens the 52nd edition of Visions du Réel. Dr. Hildbrand is about to retire as other young doctors take over. At the intersection of generations and practices, Les Guérisseurs questions the vocation and profound meaning of caring for others. Marie-Ève Hildbrand focuses on the human dimension of medicine in a system undergoing change. Visions du Réel

“The Lunar Course of my Life”, Valerie Bäuerlein (Switzerland, Germany, 2021) In Japan, the term hikikomori designates people who isolate themselves from society. Nanako, aged 24, joins in the activities of an organisation that helps withdrawn young people to reintegrate. With modesty, Valerie Bäuerlein follows the path of the young woman as she regains confidence in herself. The portrait of an increasingly competitive and oppressive society is implicitly sketched. Visions du Réel

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Catering to the industry 

They also needed a seamless platform to virtually reproduce the festival’s dynamics. While last year’s platform was an ad-hoc arrangement using mainstream technologies like Zoom, the Visions du Réel organisers adopted a customised platform, developed by the Swiss start-up WYTH, for the 2021 edition.

Festivals are crucial for film industry professionals. It’s the first opportunity for new films to gauge the reaction of an audience of cinephiles. Film festivals also allow producers and filmmakers to pitch their projects directly to the buyers: distributors, TV channels, potential co-producers, funding officers of arts and film councils from different countries. For most filmmakers, festival parties and events are not for fun – they’re business. 

Bujès hopes that using this new electronic environment, which was also integrated into the world’s leading festival management platform Eventival, will allow all of those industry exchanges to take place in the virtual realm. Participants can watch films, manage their own agenda, book meetings, join private rooms to discuss about their projects in development, with the possibility to exchange documents, pictures, and watch promos, and without leaving the festival environment.

The platform debuted in January in the When East Meets West film market, which took place parallel to the Trieste Film Festival in Italy. The designers of WYTH hope to expand their range of clients as the pandemic, and distancing measures, continue in most countries. It remains to be seen whether the attachment to the virtual realm will continue after cinemas re-open and social distancing becomes a thing of the past.  

Festival information

From April 15-25, Visions du RéelExternal link presents 142 documentary films (26 of them Swiss productions or co-productions) from 58 countries, 41% of them were made by women. The films will be accessible online for 72 hours each, within the limit of 500 available views per film. Spectators may choose between individual tickets at CHF5, or an illimited pass for CHF25. This year’s edition limits access to the films to people with a Swiss IP address. 

Certain sessions and special events were originally limited to schoolchildren. However, following the  decisions of the Swiss Federal Council this week, a quick change of plans ensued. The festival announced, a few hours before the official opening, that it will hold around 50 public screenings over four days from Thursday April 22 to Sunday April 25. 

Consult the updated programme on the Visions du Réel websiteExternal link.