Visions du Réel announced February 5 that U.S. filmmaker and journalist Laura Poitras will be the Special Guest at the opening of the 24th edition of VdR–Industry, the Festival’s programme dedicated to industry professionals. Laura Poitras is the author of a post-9/11 trilogy, which concludes with the Oscar-winning film CITIZENFOUR, a real-life international thriller about whistleblower Edward Snowden and global surveillance.
“Spanning more than two decades, Laura Poitras’s cinematic work speaks to a strong political commitment and critical analysis of U.S. government systems of oppression and impunity, as well as the abuses of the so-called ‘war on terror,’” the festival writes. “Her powerful films chronicle societal upheaval in real time.”
On Sunday 19 April, the Oscar and Venice Film Festival award-winning filmmaker will present a conversation, in collaboration with SRG SSR, while her most recent film Cover-Up also will screen as part of the official selection. This conversation will mark the official launch of the VdR–Industry days.
Laura Poitras directed her first feature film, My Country, My Country in 2006, which shines a light on the contradictions and disastrous consequences of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Following this film, she was placed under surveillance by the United States Department of Homeland Security. Poitras’ next film, The Oath, focuses on Guantánamo Bay and the so-called ‘war on terror.’ She continued her career with several short films and conducted in-depth research on mass surveillance and whistleblowers. In 2015, she won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for CITIZENFOUR, which reveals Edward Snowden’s initial disclosures. Part tense, closed-room drama, part paranoid thriller, this film documents the eight days spent with Edward Snowden in a Hong Kong hotel before he went into hiding.
In the wake of this, Poitras presented Risk, a film about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, at the Festival de Cannes. Part of Laura Poitras’ filmography falls within the portrait genre, such as All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, for which she received the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Accompanying photographer Nan Goldin as she takes on the Sackler family, owners of pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, whose flagship drug, Oxycontin, is at the root of the opioid overdose crisis in the United States, the film combines an archival portrait of the New York photographer with handheld footage of her civic actions.
Poitras’ latest film, Cover-Up, paints a portrait of American journalist Seymour Hersh, a leading figure in investigative journalism. It painstakingly weaves together interviews with a dense body of personal and media archives, retracing the major stories broken by the journalist, from the Mỹ Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, to the Watergate scandal, to the revelations of torture at Abu Ghraib during the Iraq War. The film screened as part of Venice Film Festival’s 2025 edition.
Comments Sabine Fayoux Cantillo, Head of Industry at Visions du Réel: “Laura Poitras has been able to shine a light on so many deeply moving, often unsettling and always timely issues of our times. She has done so with tact, sensitivity, artistry and a point of view that is unmistakably hers. Her work has been quintessential in shaping our shared understanding of the world, grounded in profound political awareness. She has not only moved the needle on what it means to be a politically engaged artist; her films continue to open windows into complex topics while inviting us into the intimate spaces she creates with those she chooses to portray. We are beyond thrilled to welcome Laura Poitras as our Special Guest and to open our VdR–Industry program with what we know will be a thoughtful, engaging and inspiring conversation.”, stated Sabine Fayoux Cantillo, Head of Industry at Visions du Réel.”
Laura Poitras’ presence in Nyon is part of the broader VdR–Industry programme, which will run from Sunday 19 to Wednesday 22 April 2026 as a core component of the Festival. This programme offers a variety of activities, including project presentations (pitching, works in progress), conferences and networking opportunities. Full details of the programme will be announced on 25 March 2026.
