Visions du Réel

Beautiful, experimental and boundary-testing documentary entertains with a strange double protagonist and a washed-up white whale.

Prizes follow successful conclusion of Pitching du Réel, Docs in Progress and Rough Cut Lab programmes, presented online this year.

2018 winner Mirror, Mirror on the Wall by Sascha Schöberl (pictured) to world-premiere in Vision du Réel’s Grand Angle.

In the final part of his Sicilian trilogy, Michele Pennetta shows the economic/familial similarities between two marginalized characters sharing the sun-scorched island, a teenage boy and a young Nigerian immigrant.

Originally slated to run April 24 to May 2 2020, the festival start date will come forward to April 17. Free online access for public limited to 500 spectators per film. Full industry programme to run online April 25-30

Oscar-nominated Petra Costa delivered a highly entertaining and provocative masterclass at VdR during which she discussed her feature films and motivations, specifically the ‘black hole’ of personal trauma.

In Trio, selected for Medium/Short Competition we are reminded of what long school trips were really like, as well as the tough business of being an adolescent.

The Soviet Union is not dead – it’s alive and kicking in Magnitogorsk, an unsightly town that resembles a fake film set, but one populated by some very real people.

“The festival is also going to take place in a human way, not just in a click-on-a-link way,” says Emilie Bujès of the online edition of Visions du Réel 2020. “It will still be an exchange among people.”

On May 4 Swiss Films presents an overview of five promising Swiss docs in production, which are about to be launched onto the festival circuit and for worldwide distribution.