Visions du Réel 2020, an online and unprecedented edition

In accordance with the measures adopted by the Federal Council and faced with the health emergency, Visions du Réel has reconsidered the format of its next edition. Initially planned to run from April 24 to May 2, 2020, the Festival will now be held over a longer period and some of its contents will be online as of April 17.

Émilie Bujès, Artistic Director of the event, talks about this bold change in her editorial: “Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar, in Nyon. But it will resolutely be held on the Internet, in almost all its generous diversity, and will visit the spectators at home, further expanding the possible territories.”

This redesign of the Festival has generated enthusiastic discussions and bold decisions. Rethinking the event while remaining true to its essential nature (rigorous artistic standards and conviviality) was a challenge on which the entire Visions du Réel team has worked relentlessly.

A digital edition for 2020

In the end, the new version looks promising: open-access platforms to view most of the selection while remaining at home, short-form interviews with directors, online masterclasses and unprecedented encounters.

Programming and competitions

The films in the International Feature Film Competition, International Burning Lights Competition, International Medium Length and Short Film Competition and Opening Scenes form the bedrock of the programming. The vast majority of these productions (around 98%) will be visible as from April 17 in collaboration with the Festival Scope platform. Access is open to everybody and free of charge, but limited to 500 spectators per film. All the films selected for the 2020 National Competition edition will be available online, via the RTS website. These free broadcasts will be available during 24 hours for each film. The different competitions will still go ahead and the juries
will deliberate remotely. The Grand Angle section will be presented on dafilms.com, also with open-access and free of charge. Finally, the independent documentary platform Tënk will show the films from the noncompetitive Latitudes section free of charge.

Guests of honour of this 51st edition

Some works by the special guests of this 51st edition will be visible through these platforms as well. 2020 Maître du Réel, Claire Denis, will give her Masterclass as planned, online, and some of her films will be available on Tënk.fr. The filmmakers Petra Costa and Peter Mettler, to whom the Ateliers 2020 are dedicated, will also give masterclasses online, while it will be possible to view a selection of their films on the Doc Alliance platform (dafilms.com).

Jean-Luc Godard – Exhibition

Visions du Réel presents sentiments, signes, passions – à propos du livre d'image, an exhibition developed during a long dialogue between Jean-Luc Godard, his producer and close collaborator Fabrice Aragno, and Émilie Bujès, artistic director of Visions du Réel. Based on the filmmaker’s latest film, Le livre d’image, the exhibition allows the public from here and elsewhere to understand the work of the mythical French-Swiss director, who lives in Rolle and is connected to the City of Nyon through his personal history. It will begin as soon as the Nyon Castle re-opens and will resume the cutting of the film in six parts, by breaking down and fragmenting the work,
both from the sound and visual point of view. Thus moving away from the linear film format and creating an entirely different type of experience and relationship to images.