Visions du Réel Nyon 2
Festival director Jean Perrret leaves the festival after this edition. Here are his fine words of goodbye: It is comforting to feel the quietness emanated again by the films selected for this 16th edition of Visions du Réel. Not that they are slow, oh no, some of them are very fast-moving in the way they tell stories! They convey a different experience which documentary filmmakers share with their spectators when they – filmmakers – take time to cast their gaze and focus their attention on the faces, landscapes, voices and din of the world. This film genre is comforting when the real world takes shape thus in its exciting complexity. It is exhilarating to share with the audiences these visions that reflect the extraordinary diversity of genres, scripts and viewpoints. Nearly 2,000 films have been viewed by the members of the Working Group, which is made up of specialists hired to spot the most striking films, to write the texts of the Catalogue and to moderate debates and meetings. At a time when the conditions under which films made by independent directors can assert their identity are deteriorating in terms of production and distribution,
the 2010 Programme is an exemplary illustration of fierce and stubborn resistance to run-of-the-mill audiovisual fare.
It is impressive for us to have taken the decision to step down from the Management of Visions du Réel this year when we can share in the extraordinary success that we feel entitled to claim. At the same time we know we owe that success to the filmmakers and producers and film professionals and public- and private-sector financial partners and film-goers and partners of all cultures, along with other accomplices, who have placed their trust in us for 16 years. To them we say, quite simply and with true gratitude, thank you. It is reassuring that the Nyon International Film Festival is this year opening a new film theatre for its viewers, since the future is theirs. Tomorrow a new director will be able to give these Visions the momentum they need to continue this adventure: to usher in the privileged era of a Visions du Réel entirely committed to depicting the radiant beauty and convulsive unsightliness of a world in search of authentic narratives.
Jean Perret, Director
Photo: Together by Pavel Kostomarov.
