Visions du Réel Industry topper Sophie Bourdon underlined to BDE this week how her multifaced 5-day professional event represents a significant “springboard” for the 31 teams whose feature projects are selected across the core VDR-Pitching, VDR-Work in Progress, VdR-Development Lab and VDR-Rough Cut Lab initiatives. Thirty-two countries are represented within the selection and 11 of the films are debuts. VdR Industry runs April 23 to 27.
When the selection was unveiled in March 2023, Bourdon commented how “it is clear that Visions du Réel is the first choice for filmmakers looking for financing, collaboration and distribution opportunities, and that independent production is in strong creative vibrations.”
“We are particularly pleased to notice two positive shifts in the profiles that make up the 2023 selection,” she added. “One is the return of many filmmakers selected as part of a previous Festival edition, making up around 25% of selected projects (including Francesca Mazzoleni, Ezequiel Yanco and Laila Pakalnina). The other is that, excitingly, we’re seeing plenty of debut films, which make up nearly 30% of the titles. This underlines the enduring relationship between the Festival and filmmakers such as Swiss-Canadian master Peter Mettler, as well as our positioning among the next generation.”
VdR–Pitching is an international co-production and financing forum that unveils a brand new selection of 15 feature length projects ready for production and combining “artistic ambition and international potential.”
VdR–Work in Progress is a showcase that shines the spotlight on upcoming creative documentaries at finishing stage, and offers the chance to secure distribution and sales opportunities, determine festival strategies and source post-production funds.
VdR–Rough Cut Lab is a workshop that presents a selection of feature length projects at a finishing stage. It is a springboard for creative documentaries that are seeking specific feedback and advice on their most up-to-date rough cut.
The VdR–Development Lab is a workshop for the development of projects from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe and offers directors and producers the opportunity to be tutored through the development-phase in order to more easily reach and access the international market.
Additional pitch sessions are the SWISS FILMS Previews of April 25, a presentation of high-end Swiss documentary films at a production stage ready to be launched on the festival circuit and the international market, and the Prix RTS: Soutien à la création documentaire, a pitch session aiming to promote projects from French-speaking Switzerland that are in their development stage.
Bourdon underlined how, moreso than most events she has observed over the past decade, “the programming and industry sections at Visions du Réel are really intertwined,” and that daily meetings take place between departments. This contrasts with other co-production events that are both public and industry-facing, she commented, where “some kind of distance between the programming side and the industry” has been allowed to develop.
“The professional [component] is becoming a kind of satellite, a world in itself… and losing a bit of connection with the programming side,” she added.
“I’ve never worked with an artistic director so much in involved in the industry side,” commented Bourdon of VdR chief Emilie Bujès. “For Emilie it’s very important that there’s a real chemistry which shows how both sides not only reflect but support each other. She reads, she screens, she knows all about the projects which have been selected on the industry side.”
Bourdon pointed how the relatively small scale of her professional event has a very relaxed feel, with new Co-production Platform projects numbered at a very manageable fifteen. (She cites how during Berlinale the professional programme was so packed with elements this years that she never found the time to see a single film when she was there).
“We have more time to dedicate to each team at VdR Industry, and I really hope that is the same for any person who is invited, from decision makers to journalists,” she says. “Having fewer projects and people in the industry environment context means that it gives them [the projects] more attention and more chance for quality discussions, and people aren’t running from one meeting to another every 15-20 minutes. People can breathe, they can step back a bit and get inspired.”
She further observed how the contemplative vibe of the lakeside town of Nyon is also mirrored in the type of project submissions she received in 2023. “I really have the feeling that what we are being offered reflects or questions what’s going on today in our world. It can be the impact of the internet. It can be the world next door or human rights, but within a reflective and observational way. Looking at the world, questioning the world,” she said.
Elsewhere this year during the Nyon’s Industry event, The VdR–Film Market is an online platform that includes a selection of +400 new creative documentaries with international potential. It contains much of Visions du Réel’s Official selection as well as many more unreleased documentaries proposed by our own selection committee, partner institutions, sales agents and producers.
The Documentary & Audiovisual Forum, which is held on Sunday 23 April at the opening of the Industry days, is primarily intended for Swiss professionals. As think tank and discussion ground for the national industry, the Forum invites the doc sector from all the country’s linguistic regions to exchange views in a setting that is “conducive to reflection and the emergence of new ideas.”
For the 2023 Switzerland Meets Benelux gathering, top level delegations from Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg will come to Nyon to investigate opportunities for co-production, networking and collaboration with their Swiss counterparts.
