Swiss documentary movie competition Visions du Réel has revealed the primary titles of its 54th version, which runs April 21 to 30. The occasion will open with the world premiere of “Nightwatchers” by Juliette de Marcillac, which was filmed at evening in an idyllic Alpine resort a stone’s throw from the French-Italian border. As evening falls household ski days give option to a recreation of chase between the police and the volunteers who assist migrants.
Largely medical doctors, they roam the mountain slopes at evening, looking forward to the arrival of migrants who’ve simply accomplished lengthy, life-risking journeys. Police surveillance is everlasting and denunciation is commonplace, pushing the exiles ever greater up the mountain.
“Nightwatchers”
Courtesy of Visions du Reel
“It’s a cinematic expertise in a panoramic twilight setting, bringing to mild an important and highly effective closely-knit community,” the competition stated.
Twelve function movies will compete for the Viewers Award within the Grand Angle part, together with three world premieres. The primary is “Nightwatchers.” The second is “Planet B,” which tells the story of two Extinction Riot activists. For 4 years, filmmaker Pieter Van Eecke adopted the gorgeous and mischievous friendship between Bo and Lina, two youngsters who’re as enthusiastic of their ecological activism as of their expertise of the contradictory and stunning travails of rising up. The third is “Behind the Traces” by Syrian filmmakers Alisar Hasan and Alaa Amer, who concentrate on town of Idlib’s first feminine cartoonist, interweaving animation and reside motion.
The non-competitive Highlights part will even current an eclectic program that testifies to the vitality of non-fiction movie – in addition to its formal and narrative freedom – together with movies by Claire Simon, Paul B. Preciado and Mehran Tamadon.
The complete program will probably be introduced on March 28.
Grand Angle
The Grand Angle competitors, the place 12 titles compete for the Viewers Award (CHF 10,000), options premieres of movies which are quickly to make waves at festivals, in addition to people who have already received over worldwide audiences.
The choice consists of the worldwide premiere of “The Mountains” by Danish director Christian Einshøj, a movie that mixes autobiography with a narrative of a superhero searching for redemption; in addition to the European premiere of Indian manufacturing “In opposition to the Tide” – recent from its Sundance premiere – which explores fishing, the methods and its financial and social points.
Lastly, the choice features a sequence of Swiss premieres, comparable to “The Echo” by Tatiana Huezo (2021 VdR Atelier) – honored on the final Berlinale – and the spectacular Franco-Swiss manufacturing “Paradise” by Alexander Abaturov, that tells the story of 1 heroic village’s wrestle towards “The Dragon,” the nickname given to the fires ravaging the Siberian taiga.
Highlights
The non-competitive Highlights part presents 11 Swiss premieres that the programming workforce felt important to incorporate. Two movies echo modern issues about id.
Thinker and activist Paul B. Preciado’s first function movie, “Orlando, Ma Biographie Politique” – a cinematographic, collective essay invoking the work of Virginia Woolf – foretells a joyful punk revolution that places an finish to binarity.
“Notre Corps” by Claire Simon (the fest’s 2018 Visitor of Honor) invitations viewers on a delicate and private immersion in a political ode to the feminine physique.
The Highlights program additionally options movies that replicate modern-day crises, comparable to “My Worst Enemy” by Franco-Iranian Mehran Tamadon, which deploys a chilling cinematic gadget to unaffectedly expose the violence of the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran; and “When Spring Got here to Bucha,” co-directed by Ukrainian artist Mila Teshaieva and German filmmaker Marcus Lenz, which captures on-the-ground witness accounts from residents of town of Bucha in regards to the struggle crimes dedicated by the Russian military.
Grand Angle
“After Work”
Erik Gandini, Sweden/Italy/Norway, 2023, 81’ (Swiss premiere)
“In opposition to the Tide”
Sarvnik Kaur, France/India, 2023, 97’ (European premiere)
“Behind the Traces”
Alisar Hasan, Alaa Amer, Belgium/France/Germany/Luxembourg/, 2023, 73’ (World premiere)
“Eat Bitter”
Pascale Appora-Gnekindy, Ningyi Solar, Central African Republic/China, 2023, 94’ (Swiss premiere)
“Unbelievable Machine”
Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck, Sweden/Denmark, 2023, 88’ (Swiss premiere)
“Nightwatchers”
Juliette De Marcillac, France, 2023, 69’ (World premiere)
“Paradise”
Alexander Abaturov, France/Switzerland, 2022, 89’ (Swiss premiere)
“Pianoforte”
Jakub Piątek, Poland, 2023, 89’ (Swiss premiere)
“Planet B”
Pieter Van Eecke, Belgium/Holland, 2023, 74’ (World premiere)
“She Chef”
Melanie Liehheit, Gereon Wetzel, Germany/Austria, 2022, 105’ (Swiss premiere)
“The Echo”
Tatiana Huezo, Mexique, 2023, 102’ (Swiss premiere)
“The Mountains”
Christian Einshøj, Denmark, 2023, 87’ (Worldwide premiere)
Highlights
“Apolonia Apolonia”
Lea Glob, Denmark/Poland/France, 2022, 116’ (Swiss premiere)
“Ciné-Guerrillas: Scenes from the Labudović Reels”
Mila Turajlić, France/Serbia, 2022, 94’ (Swiss premiere)
“Le Spectre de Boko Haram”
Cyrielle Raingou, Cameroon/France, 2023, 75’ (Swiss premiere)
“Love Is Not an Orange”
Otilia Babara, Belgium/France/Holland/Moldova, 2022, 73’ (Swiss premiere)
“My Worst Enemy”
Mehran Tamadon, France/Switzerland, 2023, 82’ (Swiss premiere)
“Notre corps”
Claire Simon, France, 2023, 168’ (Swiss premiere)
“Orlando, ma biographie politique”
Paul B. Preciado, France, 2023, 98’ (Swiss premiere)
“Theater of Violence”
Emil Langballe, Lukasz Konopa, Denmark/Germany, 2023, 106’
(Swiss premiere)
“The Final 12 months of Darkness”
Ben Mullinkosson, U.S./China, 2023, 90’ (Swiss premiere)
“Vera”
Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel, Austria, 2022, 115’ (Swiss premiere)
“When Spring Got here to Bucha”
Marcus Lenz, Mila Teshaieva, Germany, 2022, 66’ (Swiss premiere)
