Visions du Réel unveiled March 12 the projects selected to participate in the 24th edition of VdR–Industry, the festival’s four-day programme dedicated to industry professionals, and which features an “exciting” slate of projects with bold artistic ambition, alongside returning talents and new faces to Nyon. The opening of Industry Days will feature a conversation with Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras.
Furthermore, the opening event will welcome the 2026 VdR–Industry Jury who, alongside the Eurimages and visions sud est juries, will be responsible for awarding more than CHF 80,000 in prizes. Under the direction of new Head, Sabine Fayoux Cantillo, the 2026 VdR–Industry Days will take place April 19-22.
PROJECTS
This year, a total of 31 projects have been selected to take part in VdR–Industry’s signature activities, which support projects in development through post-production.
In the two showcase pitching events, fifteen projects in late-development will be part of VdR–Pitching and six projects in finishing stages will be presented at VdR–Work in Progress. Four projects have been selected for each of the VdR–Rough Cut Lab and the VdR–Development Lab, with the addition of two finalists in the latter.
“The Industry Days create meaningful opportunities for connection and collaboration between filmmakers and industry professionals, leading to more financing opportunities, distribution prospects, partnerships and support,” wrire organisers.
From more than 600 submissions, the 31 selected projects are led by 34 directors representing 28 countries. Among the selected projects, 61% are presented by women directors, 45% by first-time feature directors, and 58% are directed and produced by filmmakers from the majority world.
Comments Head of Industry Sabine Fayoux Cantillo: “What stands out this year is not necessarily a single topic, but rather a shared sensibility across very different geographies and stories. While there is a strong current of examining historical decisions that continue to reverberate in our present, ranging from colonial expeditions to migration policies, political uprisings, land ownership, and displacement, each project remains singular, with voices and artistic visions that assert themselves with clarity and an attuned awareness of the world we live in. We’re proud to highlight these exciting projects and are thrilled to offer VdR–Industry as a fertile ground for meaningful collaborations.”
RETURNING TALENT
This year’s VdR–Industry selection once again reflects the Festival’s strong ties with its filmmaking alumni, welcoming the return of several directors whose previous work has been presented at Visions du Réel. In the VdR–Pitching section, some of this year’s returning talents are:
- Established Swiss filmmaker Jean-Stéphane Bron, the 2023 VdR Atelier Guest whose work has screened and been awarded at major international festivals, will present his highly anticipated A Season in Europe, offering an in-depth look at the inner workings of European institutions, making this his debut pitch.
- Sofie Benoot, director of Apple Cider Vinegar (VdR 2024) and Desert Haze (VdR 2014), will present Hello?!, a film in which the Belgian director returns to what makes her work so unique: an intertwining of the gigantic and the infinitely small, organised around the encounter between memory keepers and endangered birds.
- After the success of his Oscar-nominated film Honeyland (Sundance and VdR 2019) co-directed with Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov comes back to present The Vortex of Extinction, a work based on the scientific research of Dr. Dragan Arsovsky on a singular population of turtles caught up in mysterious and fatal evolutionary patterns.
- After showing her films A Time to Rest in 2015 and Diaries from Lebanon in 2024 (WP at the Berlinale), Visions du Réel is delighted to welcome back Myriam El Hajj to introduce Letters from a Ceasefire, her upcoming feature film co-directed with Iranian filmmaker Omid Hashemi. Through a series of correspondences, the two filmmakers reflect on regional conflicts while affirming the need to believe in the possibility of change.
- In addition, Visions du Réel is excited to welcome the return of Laura Plancarte (Non Western, VdR 2020) with her latest project BOOM!, to VdR–Work in Progress, in which boxers George and Sonia question the notion of sacrifice in sport, navigating between their ambition and the toll of emotional, physical and financial pressures. Also joining her in the VdR–Work in Progress is Pacho Velez (Searchers, Sundance and VdR 2021) sharing Liberal Arts, his new film centred around an eccentric professor, a documentary filmmaker, and a class of students. By multiplying the focal points, he delivers a complex and surprising testimony for higher education.
NEW FACES, NEW TALENT
Alongside these returning filmmakers, the VdR–Industry programme also welcomes many new faces into the fold, continuing a tradition of spotlighting filmmakers shaping the future of documentary filmmaking. Among the filmmakers presenting projects at VdR–Pitching for the first time are:
- Todd Chandler, known primarily through his work as an editor, returns to directing with TRADE, a kaleidoscopic exploration of labour, consumerism, community, and ambition unfolding behind the closed doors of industry trade shows in the U.S.
- Filmmaker and theater director Vladlena Sandu has created a sensitive body of work that explores the horrors of colonialism and the traumas of war. While Memory, her first feature film (2025 VdR–Work in Progress and Venice Days), was inspired by her childhood memories during the Russian-Chechen War, Transposition, her new autobiographical project, invites the viewer to reconsider history, belonging, and the fragile possibility of rebuilding meaning in a broken world.
- Argentinian director Francina Carbonell will present La Linda portraying Tatuna, an eccentric heiress living alone in her palace in Mendoza. Her project examines the economic crisis in Argentina through the lens of a family conflict involving three generations of women.
In the VdR–Work in Progress, some new faces include Alexander Murphy, who comes to Nyon to share A Road Less Travelled, a film centred on an Irish Traveller family, the O’Reillys, capturing the marginality of a way of life that is rapidly disappearing. Haitian filmmaker Samuel Suffren, whose short was screened at the 2025 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight will present Job 1:21, his first feature film. Through a mise en abyme where former female prisoners stage a play denouncing the institutional injustice they experienced, the film exposes the corrupt and arbitrary judicial system in Haiti, while affirming art as a powerful tool of collective action, transmission and healing. In The Nights, director Ana Bovina follows La Pichi, a modern-day Scheherazade who transforms her life into extraordinary stories, exploring how giving birth to words can be a healing and emancipatory act. Lastly, Milton Guillén and Fiona Guy Hall will share their confidential project My Skin and I.
Four projects in the VdR–Rough Cut Lab come to Nyon to seek feedback on their latest cut, and range from an intimate farewell journey between a daughter and her father with Alzheimer’s disease in Captain by Laura Otálora, to the cinematic and somewhat surreal journey of a rare Himalayan fungus from Nepal to China in Summer Grass Winter Wormby Matjaz Pinter. Joining them are Holy Human Angel by Angeliki Aristomenopoulou and The People Outside by Jewel Maranan. All projects are pushing artistic and storytelling boundaries and come with exciting questions to workshop alongside their peers and Lab mentors.
Lastly, four projects and two finalists hailing from Iran, India, Bolivia, Burundi, Georgia and Ukraine will take part in the VdR–Development Lab – a 9-month programme aimed to accompany them as they prepare to enter production – welcoming back directors Elahe Esmaili with A journey to love should be taken by train, and only train and Sachin with This Is Not a Wasteland, as well as introducing Auguries, Dreams and Soils by Luciana Decker Orozco, Identity Curls by Nadège Butoyi, Of the Trees Unmoved by Nino Benashvili and YOUTH by Daria Zhuravel.
JURIES DELIBERATING OVER VDR–INDUSTRY
Three juries will oversee the awarding of over CHF 80’000 in cash and in-kind awards. In 2026, the VdR–Industry Jury consists of screenwriter and director Gabrielle Brady, who won an award at Visions du Réel in 2018 for her film Island of the Hungry Ghosts; Dominic Davis, Manager of the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, and Gaia Furrer, Artistic Director of Giornate degli Autori (Venice Days).
The Eurimages co-production development prize, worth € 20,000, will be awarded by a jury, made up of Karim Aïtouna, producer based in France and Morocco, with a portfolio that spans fiction and documentary; Salomé Jashi, documentary filmmaker and Chairperson of the Documentary Association Georgia (DOCA), and Ilse Ronteltap, International Manager at the Netherlands Film Fund.
Finally, the visions sud est jury, which awards the CHF 10’000 prize to a project from the Global South, consists of John Canciani, Artistic Director of the Winterthur International Short Film Festival, Stefanie Rusterholz, Co-Director of trigon-film, and Sarah Schiesser, Deputy Head of Open Doors, Locarno’s talent development programme dedicated to film professionals from underrepresented regions.
VDR–PITCHING PROJECTS 2026
VdR–Pitching is the Festival’s highly competitive international co-production and financing platform, showcasing fifteen projects in development with artistic ambition and international potential ready to be launched into production.
- A Season in Europe by Jean-Stéphane Bron (Switzerland). Production: Lionel Baier (Bande à part Films), Switzerland, France
- Firing Line by Olga Gibelinda (Ukraine). Production: Olga Gibelinda (Malanka Studios), Stasys Baltakis (Film Jam), Jonas Kellagher (CommonGround Pictures). Ukraine, Lithuania, Sweden
- Hello?! by Sofie Benoot (Belgium). Marc Goyens (Quetzalcoatl), Guillaume Malandrin (Altitude100), Steven Rubinstein Malamud (GROM), Matej Sotnik (guča films). Belgium, Netherlands, Slovakia
- La Linda by Francina Carbonell (Argentina). Production: Maria Paz González (María una vez), Gema Juarez Allen (Gema Films). Chile, Argentina
- Letters from a Ceasefire by Myriam El Hajj (Lebanon), Omid Hashemi (Iran). Production: Julie Bergeron & Corentin Sénéchal & Daniel Chabannes (Reality Films / Epicentre Films). France
- Retrograd by Anders Mielcke Grønbæk (Denmark), Esben Persson (Denmark). Production: Kasper Lykke Schultz (Elk Film). Denmark
- Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Koval Bhatia (India). Production: Dominique Barneaud (Bellota Films), Riham Ezzaldeen (What Took You So Long), Koval Bhatia (A Little Anarky Films). France, United States, India
- Stuttering Fluidity – How My Father Became a Sea Creature (in Seven Parts) by Stefan Pavlovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Netherlands). Production: Eyal Sivan (Serendipity Films), Kostana Banovic (artTrace Foundation). France, Netherlands
- The Bubble of Bliss by Yasmin van Dorp (Netherlands). Production: Hester Breunissen & Janneke Doolaard (DOXY FIXY). Netherlands
- The Myth by Che-Chia Hsu (Taiwan). Production: Jia Zhao (MUYI FILM), Che-Chia Hsu (MindMine Films). Taiwan, Netherlands
- The Vortex of Extinction by Ljubomir Stefanov (North Macedonia). Production: Maya E. Rudolph (Louverture Films). North Macedonia, United States
- To My Dearest by Grace Hsia (China). Production: Grace Hsia (Wild Angle Films), Wenli Liu. China, United States
- TRADE by Todd Chandler (United States). Production: Alysa Nahmias (AJNA Films), Keith Wilson (Breezy Circle). United States
- Transposition by Vladlena Sandu (based in the Netherlands). Production: Jos de Putter (Dieptescherpte BV). Netherlands
- Uganda by Daniel Mann (United Kingdom). Production: Fabrizio Polpettini (La Bête), Christophe Gougeon (Acqua alta). France
VDR–WORK IN PROGRESS PROJECTS 2026
VdR–Work in Progress highlights six upcoming documentaries in their finishing stages of post-production. This boutique showcase is designed to facilitate distribution opportunities, targeting festivals, sales agents, distributors and finishing funds.
- A Road Less Travelled by Alexander Murphy (France, Ireland). Production: Cosme Bongrain (Goodseed Productions), David Collins & Eamon Hughes (Samson Films). France, Ireland
- BOOM! by Laura Plancarte (Mexico). Production: Johnny Brewin (Boom Film Project Ltd.), Christilla Huillard-Kann (Elda Productions). United Kingdom, France
- Job 1:21 by Samuel Suffren (Haiti). Production: Eugénie Michel Villette (Les Films du Bilboquet), Samuel Suffren (Kit Films). France, Haiti
- Liberal Arts by Pacho Velez (United States). Production: Scott Cummings, Pacho Velez (Pachoworks), Milo Borsuk. United States
- My Skin and I by Milton Guillén (Nicaragua), Fiona Guy Hall (United States). Production: Zorana Mušikić & May Odeh (Mayana Films), Milton Guillén, Fiona Guy Hall. Germany, United States, Nicaragua
- The Nights by Ana Bovino (Argentina). Production: Natalia de la Vega (Navega Cine), Ana Bovino. Argentina
VDR–ROUGH CUT LAB PROJECTS 2026
The VdR–Rough Cut Lab is an intimate workshop for four feature-length projects seeking specific feedback and advice from professionals on their most up-to-date rough cut.
- Captain by Laura Otálora (Colombia). Production: Estephania Bonnett (Playlab Films), Nicolás Herreño (Tomato Content). Colombia, Spain
- Holy Human Angel by Angeliki Aristomenopoulou (Greece). Production: Rea Apostolidis & Yuri Averof (Anemon Productions), Heather Millard (Compass Films), Vicky Miha (Asterisk). Greece, Iceland
- Summer Grass Winter Worm by Matjaz Pinter (Slovenia). Production: Martin Saxer (Entangled Films). Germany
- The People Outside by Jewel Maranan (Philippines). Production: Jewel Maranan (Cinema Is Incomplete). Philippines
VDR–DEVELOPMENT LAB PROJECTS 2026
The VdR–Development Lab is a nine-month programme supporting projects in development stages across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
- A journey to love should be taken by train, and only train, by Elahe Esmaili (Iran). Production: Elahe Esmaili, Fabien Greenberg (Antipode Films). Iran, Norway
- Auguries, Dreams and Soils by Luciana Decker Orozco (Bolivia). Production: Camila Molina Wiethuchter (Omm Cine). Bolivia
- Identity Curls by Nadège Butoyi (Burundi). Production: Diane Kaneza (Mikadie Production), Jean Marie Ndihokubwayo (Clap4Creativity). Burundi
- This Is Not a Wasteland by Sachin (India). Production: Sachin (rohī collective). India
VDR–DEVELOPMENT LAB FINALISTS
- Of the Trees Unmoved by Nino Benashvili (Georgia, Germany). Production: Tekla Machavariani (Nushi Film), Eva Blondiau (Color of May). Georgia, Germany
- YOUTH by Daria Zhuravel (Ukraine). Production: Anastasiia Zakhilko (Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema), Victor Thomas (Les 48° Rugissants / Jeudi Soir), Kristof Gerega (Schuldenberg Films). Ukraine, France, Germany
