The Visions du Réel film festival’s greatest singularity is two-fold: its lack of pretense and judicious curatorial eye. The first is, of course, directly related to the other. In centering the festival on the quality, even radicalness, of film praxes, instead of a locus for glamour and business, VdR makes room for cinematic pearls to emerge. Those pearls may not be programmed at any other film festival, and in the quiet Swiss town of Nyon, a 15-minute train ride from Geneva, they amounted to a stunningly consistent lineup.
One of the most sparkling pearls in that lineup was the unclassifiable The Documentary Journey of Madame Anita Conti. Director Louise Hémon’s medium-length film relies on narration from a text by French explorer and photographer Anita Conti’s travel diary from her time on a fishing boat in open sea in 1952—along with an audio interview with Conti, 16mm footage from the expedition,...
One of the most sparkling pearls in that lineup was the unclassifiable The Documentary Journey of Madame Anita Conti. Director Louise Hémon’s medium-length film relies on narration from a text by French explorer and photographer Anita Conti’s travel diary from her time on a fishing boat in open sea in 1952—along with an audio interview with Conti, 16mm footage from the expedition,...
- 4/19/2024
- by Diego Semerene
- Slant Magazine
Belgian filmmaker Sofie Benoot’s “Apple Cider Vinegar,” which has its world premiere in the International Competition section of Visions du Réel, has been picked up for world sales by Filmotor. The trailer and poster are being released exclusively by Variety.
The film is narrated by actor Sian Phillips, who appeared in “I, Claudius” and David Lynch’s “Dune,” and is a veteran nature documentary narrator.
The essay film starts with Phillips talking about her kidney stone and from there looking at stones of all kinds. It takes the viewer on a journey meeting Palestinian quarry workers, a passionate British geologist and people living on the lava fields of Fogo in the Cape Verde Islands.
Avila is the Belgian film distributor. The producer is Peter Krüger of Inti Films from Belgium, and the co-producer is Pieter van Huystee of Pieter van Huystee Film in the Netherlands. The cinematographer is Jonathan Wannyn.
The film is narrated by actor Sian Phillips, who appeared in “I, Claudius” and David Lynch’s “Dune,” and is a veteran nature documentary narrator.
The essay film starts with Phillips talking about her kidney stone and from there looking at stones of all kinds. It takes the viewer on a journey meeting Palestinian quarry workers, a passionate British geologist and people living on the lava fields of Fogo in the Cape Verde Islands.
Avila is the Belgian film distributor. The producer is Peter Krüger of Inti Films from Belgium, and the co-producer is Pieter van Huystee of Pieter van Huystee Film in the Netherlands. The cinematographer is Jonathan Wannyn.
- 3/19/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel (VdR) has revealed the line-up for its 55th edition (April 12-21) which opens with the IDFA- and Göteborg selection As The Tide Comes In by Juan Palacios (and co-directed by Sofie Husum Johannesen).
The full selection includes 128 films, 88 of which are world premieres.
Among the 14 world premieres in international competition is Apple Cider Vinegar from Belgium’s Sofie Benoot whose 2020 documentary Victoria won the Caligari award at Berlinale Forum. Her latest feature is part nature documentary, part philosophical tale beginning with the journey of a kidney stone.
Other world premieres include Swiss titles The...
The full selection includes 128 films, 88 of which are world premieres.
Among the 14 world premieres in international competition is Apple Cider Vinegar from Belgium’s Sofie Benoot whose 2020 documentary Victoria won the Caligari award at Berlinale Forum. Her latest feature is part nature documentary, part philosophical tale beginning with the journey of a kidney stone.
Other world premieres include Swiss titles The...
- 3/19/2024
- ScreenDaily
Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the program for its 55th edition, which includes 10 first films out of 15 in the main international competition, cementing its reputation as a springboard for emerging talent.
The official selection includes 165 films from 50 countries and no fewer than 88 world premieres, making VdR the place to be in April on the international non-fiction film calendar.
Key figures from the world of cinema will be attending including outgoing Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian in the main competition jury, Argentine director and screenwriter Martín Rejtman with his latest film “Riders” in the Burning Lights section, and celebrated French author Christine Angot with her debut film “Une Famille,” which premiered in Berlin.
This year’s opening film is Juan Palacios and Sofie Johannesen’s “As the Tide Comes In,” which has been touring the festival circuit since opening at IDFA. Guests of honor include acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke,...
The official selection includes 165 films from 50 countries and no fewer than 88 world premieres, making VdR the place to be in April on the international non-fiction film calendar.
Key figures from the world of cinema will be attending including outgoing Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian in the main competition jury, Argentine director and screenwriter Martín Rejtman with his latest film “Riders” in the Burning Lights section, and celebrated French author Christine Angot with her debut film “Une Famille,” which premiered in Berlin.
This year’s opening film is Juan Palacios and Sofie Johannesen’s “As the Tide Comes In,” which has been touring the festival circuit since opening at IDFA. Guests of honor include acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke,...
- 3/19/2024
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
‘Girl’ and ’Close’ director Dhont will select five emerging filmmaking talents for The Future Five.
Flanders Image’s annual film and TV showcase Connext (October 9-10) will present new work from the region’s creatives including Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and see Lukas Dhont curate the first edition of new talent showcase The Future Five.
Girl and Close director Dhont will select five emerging filmmaking talents for The Future Five, who will be presented to international industry attending Connext in Antwerp on the event’s first day. The initiative is in association with Screen International.
Scroll down for...
Flanders Image’s annual film and TV showcase Connext (October 9-10) will present new work from the region’s creatives including Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and see Lukas Dhont curate the first edition of new talent showcase The Future Five.
Girl and Close director Dhont will select five emerging filmmaking talents for The Future Five, who will be presented to international industry attending Connext in Antwerp on the event’s first day. The initiative is in association with Screen International.
Scroll down for...
- 9/19/2023
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
‘Girl’ and ’Close’ director Dhont will select five emerging filmmaking talents for The Future Five.
Flanders Image’s annual film and TV showcase Connext (October 9-10) will present new work from regional filmmakers including Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and see Lukas Dhont curate the first edition of new talent showcase The Future Five.
Girl and Close director Dhont will select five emerging filmmaking talents for The Future Five, who will be presented to international industry attending Connext in Antwerp on the event’s first day. The initiative is in association with Screen International.
Scroll down for line-ups
Among...
Flanders Image’s annual film and TV showcase Connext (October 9-10) will present new work from regional filmmakers including Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and see Lukas Dhont curate the first edition of new talent showcase The Future Five.
Girl and Close director Dhont will select five emerging filmmaking talents for The Future Five, who will be presented to international industry attending Connext in Antwerp on the event’s first day. The initiative is in association with Screen International.
Scroll down for line-ups
Among...
- 9/19/2023
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Documentary explores the fight for female emancipation in the Middle East.
Prague-based sales agent Filmotor has boarded Samaher Alqadi’s feature documentary debut As I Want, which is set to play in competition at Cph:dox next week.
The film premiered in the Encounters section of the Berlinale last month and will receive its international debut in the F:act Competition of Copenhagen’s Cph:dox on April 22.
The documentary begins in 2013, during the second anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. Palestinian filmmaker Alqadi picked up her camera as a weapon against the explosion of sexual violence that was occurring on Cairo’s Tahrir...
Prague-based sales agent Filmotor has boarded Samaher Alqadi’s feature documentary debut As I Want, which is set to play in competition at Cph:dox next week.
The film premiered in the Encounters section of the Berlinale last month and will receive its international debut in the F:act Competition of Copenhagen’s Cph:dox on April 22.
The documentary begins in 2013, during the second anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. Palestinian filmmaker Alqadi picked up her camera as a weapon against the explosion of sexual violence that was occurring on Cairo’s Tahrir...
- 4/16/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
UK festival also announces best feature and emerging filmmaker winners.
Chilean director Gabriela Pena has scooped £10,000 in development funding for upcoming feature Here, The Silence Is Heard at the UK’s Open City Documentary Festival.
It marks the second time the grant has been awarded through the festival’s Assembly documentary development lab and was one of six projects that took part in the programme, which ran online from September 3-8.
The autobiographical documentary follows Pena’s return to her family home in Chile, which her parents had to abandon during the Pinochet dictatorship. Helping her grandparents write their memoirs...
Chilean director Gabriela Pena has scooped £10,000 in development funding for upcoming feature Here, The Silence Is Heard at the UK’s Open City Documentary Festival.
It marks the second time the grant has been awarded through the festival’s Assembly documentary development lab and was one of six projects that took part in the programme, which ran online from September 3-8.
The autobiographical documentary follows Pena’s return to her family home in Chile, which her parents had to abandon during the Pinochet dictatorship. Helping her grandparents write their memoirs...
- 9/15/2020
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
We present the brand-new trailer for the Forum entry Victoria, directed by Sofie Benoot, Liesbeth De Ceulaer and Isabelle Tollenaere. Belgian filmmakers Sofie Benoot, Liesbeth De Ceulaer and Isabelle Tollenaere have world-premiered their docu-fiction hybrid Victoria in the 70th Berlinale's Forum section, and now the film's production company, Caviar, and international sales agent, Czech firm Filmotor, have readied a new trailer for the film. In the Mojave Desert, not far from Los Angeles, lies the unfinished city of California City. Lashay T Warren (25) left behind his turbulent past in La to build a new life within this grid of thousands of crumbled streets. “It started with an anecdote, a story we picked up somewhere, about a city in a desert, California City, which hadn’t (yet) fulfilled its promise to become the third-largest city in California. Driven by curiosity to this unfinished place, we ended up there together and found.
The strand’s 50th anniversary to open with a previously unfinished film by late Chilean director Raúl Ruiz.
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 20-March 1) has revealed the 35 films in this year’s Forum line-up, including 28 world premieres.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The strand aims to highlight challenging and thought-provoking filmmaking that brings together film with visual art, theatre and literature.
This year’s Forum will open with The Tango Of The Widower And Its Distorting Mirror from late Chilean director Raúl Ruiz and his widow Valeria Sarmiento.
Ruiz – a four-time Palme d’Or nominee who won...
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 20-March 1) has revealed the 35 films in this year’s Forum line-up, including 28 world premieres.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The strand aims to highlight challenging and thought-provoking filmmaking that brings together film with visual art, theatre and literature.
This year’s Forum will open with The Tango Of The Widower And Its Distorting Mirror from late Chilean director Raúl Ruiz and his widow Valeria Sarmiento.
Ruiz – a four-time Palme d’Or nominee who won...
- 1/20/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
The Points North Institute has unveiled unveiled the lineup for its eighth annual Points North Forum. The three-day documentary-focused conference program runs concurrently with the Camden International Film Festival (Ciff) from September 16 – 18 at the historic Camden Opera House and Rockport Opera House in Camden and Rockport, Maine.
This year’s program will include four masterclasses focused on directing, editing, producing and interactive media, panel discussions, case studies, networking events and the seventh annual Points North Pitch, part of the yearlong Points North Fellowship for six filmmakers with feature documentaries in development. Those masterclasses will be taught by director Ezra Edelman, director and cinematographer Kirsten Johnson, producer Julie Goldman, veteran editor Joe Bini and interactive media pioneer Hugues Sweeney of the National Film Board of Canada.
A full conference schedule and list of industry delegates can be found online, right here. For filmmakers looking to crack various aspects of...
This year’s program will include four masterclasses focused on directing, editing, producing and interactive media, panel discussions, case studies, networking events and the seventh annual Points North Pitch, part of the yearlong Points North Fellowship for six filmmakers with feature documentaries in development. Those masterclasses will be taught by director Ezra Edelman, director and cinematographer Kirsten Johnson, producer Julie Goldman, veteran editor Joe Bini and interactive media pioneer Hugues Sweeney of the National Film Board of Canada.
A full conference schedule and list of industry delegates can be found online, right here. For filmmakers looking to crack various aspects of...
- 8/25/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Tonislav Hristov’s Love & Engineering is to open the 20th edition of the Visions du Réel documentary film festival.
The film about a Bulgarian computer engineer searching for a formula to create irresistible seductive power for four desperate digital geeks searching for analogue love will open this year’s festival in Nyon, Switzerland tomorrow (April 24). The festival runs from April 25 to May 3.
The German-Finnish-Bulgarian co-production won the Audience Award at DocPoint Helsinki and is set to be screened at Hot Docs Toronto and the Tribeca Film Festival this month.
Nyon’s 2014 edition will see the festival celebrating two anniversaries: in 1969, the Festival international de cinéma Nyon was founded by the later Berlinale director Moritz de Hadeln, and the name change to Visions du Réel was taken by present artistic director Luciano Barisone’s predecessor Jean Perret in 1995
19 feature-length documentaries from 17 countries in the festival’s main competition will be judged by an International Jury comprising UK producer...
The film about a Bulgarian computer engineer searching for a formula to create irresistible seductive power for four desperate digital geeks searching for analogue love will open this year’s festival in Nyon, Switzerland tomorrow (April 24). The festival runs from April 25 to May 3.
The German-Finnish-Bulgarian co-production won the Audience Award at DocPoint Helsinki and is set to be screened at Hot Docs Toronto and the Tribeca Film Festival this month.
Nyon’s 2014 edition will see the festival celebrating two anniversaries: in 1969, the Festival international de cinéma Nyon was founded by the later Berlinale director Moritz de Hadeln, and the name change to Visions du Réel was taken by present artistic director Luciano Barisone’s predecessor Jean Perret in 1995
19 feature-length documentaries from 17 countries in the festival’s main competition will be judged by an International Jury comprising UK producer...
- 4/23/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Ten films get €2m ($2.7m), including projects from Wolfgang Becker, Kathrine Windfeld.
Amounts per project vary between € 50,000 ($68,760) and € 400,000 ($550,080).
Among the projects are films from Wolfgang Becker, writer-director of Good Bye Lenin, and Kathrine Windfeld, director of Hamilton: In the Interests of a Nation and TV series including The Bridge, The Killing and Wallander.
Becker’s drama Me and Kamiski, starring Daniel Bruhl, Denis Lavant, Jesper Christensen, Karlo Marcovics, Geraldine Chaplin and Amira Casar, is currently in post-production.
Lars Mikkelsen stars alongside Flemish actors Veerle Baetens, Koen De Bouw, Filip Peeters and Hilde Van Mieghem in Windfeld’s new European police series The Team.
The 10 projects to receive Screen Flanders support are:
• Another Day of Life
Dir: Raul de la Fuente & Damian Nenow; Main prod: Platige Images (Pl); Belgian co-prod: Walking The Dog; documentary
• Archibelge!
Dir: Sofie Benoot & Gilles Coton; Main/Belgian prod: Off World; documentary
• Deadline 25/5
Dir: Maarten Moerkerke; Main/Belgian prod: Menuet; fiction
• Dimitri
Dir: Agnès...
Amounts per project vary between € 50,000 ($68,760) and € 400,000 ($550,080).
Among the projects are films from Wolfgang Becker, writer-director of Good Bye Lenin, and Kathrine Windfeld, director of Hamilton: In the Interests of a Nation and TV series including The Bridge, The Killing and Wallander.
Becker’s drama Me and Kamiski, starring Daniel Bruhl, Denis Lavant, Jesper Christensen, Karlo Marcovics, Geraldine Chaplin and Amira Casar, is currently in post-production.
Lars Mikkelsen stars alongside Flemish actors Veerle Baetens, Koen De Bouw, Filip Peeters and Hilde Van Mieghem in Windfeld’s new European police series The Team.
The 10 projects to receive Screen Flanders support are:
• Another Day of Life
Dir: Raul de la Fuente & Damian Nenow; Main prod: Platige Images (Pl); Belgian co-prod: Walking The Dog; documentary
• Archibelge!
Dir: Sofie Benoot & Gilles Coton; Main/Belgian prod: Off World; documentary
• Deadline 25/5
Dir: Maarten Moerkerke; Main/Belgian prod: Menuet; fiction
• Dimitri
Dir: Agnès...
- 11/27/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Screen Flanders has backed ten projects to the tune of €2m ($2.7m).
Amounts per project vary between € 50,000 ($68,760) and € 400,000 ($550,080) per project.
The 10 projects that receive Screen Flanders support are:
• Another Day of Life
Dir: Raul de la Fuente & Damian Nenow; Main prod: Platige Images (Pl); Belgian co-prod: Walking The Dog; documentary
• Archibelge!
Dir: Sofie Benoot & Gilles Coton; Main/Belgian prod: Off World; documentary
• Deadline 25/5
Dir: Maarten Moerkerke; Main/Belgian prod: Menuet; fiction
• Dimitri
Dir: Agnès Lecreux, Fabien Drouet, Ben Tesseur & Steven De Beul; Main prod: Vivement Lundi ! (Fr); Belgian co-prod: Beast Productions; animation
• La Tierra Roja
Dir: Martinez Vignatti Diego; Main prod: Entre Chien et Loup (Be); Flemish co-prod: A Private View; fiction
• Me & Kaminski
Dir: Wolfgang Becker; Main prod: X Filme Creative Pool (De); Belgian co-prod: Potemkino; fiction
• Michiel de Ruyter
Dir: Roel Reiné; Main prod: Farmhouse TV & Film (Nl); Belgian co-prod: Ciné Cri de Coeur; fiction
• Onder het hart
Dir: Nicole Van Kilsdonk; Main prod: Waterland...
Amounts per project vary between € 50,000 ($68,760) and € 400,000 ($550,080) per project.
The 10 projects that receive Screen Flanders support are:
• Another Day of Life
Dir: Raul de la Fuente & Damian Nenow; Main prod: Platige Images (Pl); Belgian co-prod: Walking The Dog; documentary
• Archibelge!
Dir: Sofie Benoot & Gilles Coton; Main/Belgian prod: Off World; documentary
• Deadline 25/5
Dir: Maarten Moerkerke; Main/Belgian prod: Menuet; fiction
• Dimitri
Dir: Agnès Lecreux, Fabien Drouet, Ben Tesseur & Steven De Beul; Main prod: Vivement Lundi ! (Fr); Belgian co-prod: Beast Productions; animation
• La Tierra Roja
Dir: Martinez Vignatti Diego; Main prod: Entre Chien et Loup (Be); Flemish co-prod: A Private View; fiction
• Me & Kaminski
Dir: Wolfgang Becker; Main prod: X Filme Creative Pool (De); Belgian co-prod: Potemkino; fiction
• Michiel de Ruyter
Dir: Roel Reiné; Main prod: Farmhouse TV & Film (Nl); Belgian co-prod: Ciné Cri de Coeur; fiction
• Onder het hart
Dir: Nicole Van Kilsdonk; Main prod: Waterland...
- 11/27/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Montreal’s Festival Du Nouveau Cinema (10.10 – 10.21) announced their line-up today for their 41st edition and among the smorgasbord of subtitle offerings dating back to this year’s Rotterdam, Berlin, Cannes, Locarno, Venice and Tiff editions, we’re knee-deep in avant-garde world cinema from the established auteurs Assayas, Vinterberg, Ozon, Sang-Soo, Joao Pedro Rodriguez, Larrain, Loach, Reygadas, Ghobadi, Mungiu and Miguel Gomes. Heavy on offerings from Quebec and France, the fest also manages to offer a stellar snapshot of the up-and-comers from all corners of the globe. Among the notable titles in the (Competition category) International Selection we’ve got Pablo Berger’s Blancanieves, Ursula Meier’s Sister, Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky’s Francine (which received its theatrical release earlier this month) and Rodrigo Plá’s La Demora. Loaded in Cannes items, the Special Presentations is the fest’s A-list selections (see filmmakers named above) and the one pic...
- 9/25/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
The sixth annual Indie Grits Festival, hosted by the Nickelodeon Theatre in Columbia, South Carolina, is actually more than just a film festival. Much, much more. From April 20-28, there will be film screenings, food tastings, bands playing, theater performances, a craft fair, a technology conference and oh so much more.
As for the films, though, every night — and a few afternoons — of Indie Grits is jam-packed with unique and creative independent feature-length movies and short films. Screenings take place at two locations: At the original Nickelodeon theater at 937 Main St. and at the New Nick location just up the road at 1607 Main St.
The fest opens with Bill and Turner Ross’ narrative feature Tchoupatoulis, about three brothers who sneak into New Orleans on their own to witness the visual spectacles the city has to offer; and the documentary Dragons of Jim Green, directed by Randy M. Salo, about a...
As for the films, though, every night — and a few afternoons — of Indie Grits is jam-packed with unique and creative independent feature-length movies and short films. Screenings take place at two locations: At the original Nickelodeon theater at 937 Main St. and at the New Nick location just up the road at 1607 Main St.
The fest opens with Bill and Turner Ross’ narrative feature Tchoupatoulis, about three brothers who sneak into New Orleans on their own to witness the visual spectacles the city has to offer; and the documentary Dragons of Jim Green, directed by Randy M. Salo, about a...
- 4/6/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Age: 26 Hometown: born in Bruges, lives in Brussels, Belgium Why She is On Our Radar: Sofie Benoot's first film after school, "Blue Meridian," made its Us debut earlier this fall at the Camden International Film Festival, where it received a special mention for Cinematic Vision. Shot in various communities along the Mississippi River, "Blue Meridian" flows with the Mississippi from Cairo, Illinois to Venice, Louisiana, stopping along the way ...
- 11/3/2011
- indieWIRE - People
Age: 26 Hometown: born in Bruges, lives in Brussels, Belgium Why She is On Our Radar: Sofie Benoot's first film after school, "Blue Meridian," made its Us debut earlier this fall at the Camden International Film Festival, where it received a special mention for Cinematic Vision. Shot in various communities along the Mississippi River, "Blue Meridian" flows with the Mississippi from Cairo, Illinois to Venice, Louisiana, stopping along the way ...
- 11/3/2011
- indieWIRE - People
Age: 26 Hometown: born in Bruges, lives in Brussels, Belgium Why She is On Our Radar: Sofie Benoot's first film after school, "Blue Meridian," made its Us debut earlier this fall at the Camden International Film Festival, where it received a special mention for Cinematic Vision. Shot in various communities along the Mississippi River, "Blue Meridian" flows with the Mississippi from Cairo, Illinois to Venice, Louisiana, stopping along the way ...
- 11/3/2011
- Indiewire
Age: 26 Hometown: born in Bruges, lives in Brussels, Belgium Why She is On Our Radar: Sofie Benoot's first film after school, "Blue Meridian," made its Us debut earlier this fall at the Camden International Film Festival, where it received a special mention for Cinematic Vision. Shot in various communities along the Mississippi River, "Blue Meridian" flows with the Mississippi from Cairo, Illinois to Venice, Louisiana, stopping along the way ...
- 11/3/2011
- indieWIRE - People
Non-fiction took center stage over the weekend in Maine with the 2011 Camden International Film Festival. Danfung Dennis's opening night film "Hell and Back Again" took home the Herrell Award for Best Documentary at the event, while Isabelle Lavigne and Stéphane Thibault's "At Night They Dance" received a special mention. Alma Har'el's "Bombay Beach" took home the fest's Cinematic Vision jury prize, with Sofie Benoot receiving a special mention for ...
- 10/3/2011
- Indiewire
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