A big festival for small screens: Visions du R�el goes virtual again

(MENAFN - Swissinfo) After last year's record edition during the�Covid-19 lockdown, Visions du R�el � 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.This content was published on April 16, 2021 - 09:00 April 16, 2021 - 09:00 Eduardo Simantob Born in S�o Paulo, Brazil, editor at the Portuguese Dept. and responsible for swissinfo.ch Culture beat. Degrees in Film and Business & Economics, worked at Folha de S. Paulo, one of Brazil's leading dailies, before moving to Switzerland in 2000 as international correspondent for various Brazilian media. Based in Zurich, Simantob worked with print and digital media, international co-productions of documentary films, visual arts (3.a Bienal da Bahia; Johann Jacobs Museum/Zurique), and was guest lecturer on Transmedia Storytelling at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU � Camera Arts, 2013-17). More about the author | Portuguese Department See in another language: 1 Portugu�s(pt)Um grande festival numa telinha: Visions du R�el se reinventa no virtual A year ago, Visions du�R�el�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 �milie�Buj�s, 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�R�el�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?�Buj�s�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�Buj�s. She was also pleased with the press coverage and the industry presence.� �milie Buj�s made a career as a curator of contemporary art before becoming director of Visions du R�el 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 Buj�s. 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.�Buj�s�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�Buj�s�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 Buj�s. 'In the screening room this process is very fluid, but remotely it is much more time-consuming.' As artistic director of a documentary film festival, �milie Buj�s 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 "cin�ma v�rit�"] made use of some artifices. What is important for us, as we deal with the 'cin�ma du r�el' [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." S�bastien 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 bythe 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 R�el "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 R�el "Splinters", Natalia Garayalde (Argentina 2020)Director Natalia Garayalde was 12 years old when the R�o 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 R�el "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 telephonerecordings to life, Tomasz Wolski composes a highly precise and prodigious film. Visions du R�el "Bellum - the Daemon of War", David Herdies, Georg G�tmark (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 thehyper-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 R�el "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 R�el "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 civiliansduring 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 R�el "The Moon Represents my Heart", Juan Mart�n Hsu (Argentina, Taiwan, 2021)Haunted by the tragic death of his father, Juan Mart�n 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 R�el "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 R�el "Les Gu�risseurs", Marie-Eve Hildbrand (Switzerland, 2021)The film that opens the 52nd edition of Visions du R�el. Dr. Hildbrand is about to retire as other young doctors take over. At the intersection of generations and practices, Les Gu�risseurs questions the vocation and profound meaning of caring for others. Marie-�ve Hildbrand focuses on the human dimension of medicine in a system undergoing change. Visions du R�el "The Lunar Course of my Life", Valerie B�uerlein (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 B�uerlein 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 R�el 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�R�el�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.�Buj�s�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 R�el External 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 R�el websiteExternal link .�End of insertionMENAFN16042021000210011054ID1101926820