Elizabeth, the feature documentary directed by the late Roger Michell, heads the programme of the 53rd edition of Switzerland’s Visions du Réel (VdR) film festival.
The film will play as a special screening out of competition at the non-fiction festival in Nyon. Elizabeth looks at the life of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving female head of state in history.
Elizabeth comes to VdR following a world premiere at Belgium’s Ostend Film Festival earlier this month.
It is produced by Kevin Loader for the UK’s Free Range Films, with Embankment Films handling sales and Signature distributing in the UK and Ireland.
It is one of 124 films on the VdR lineup, of which 84 are world premieres. Sixty-five of the 124 films are feature-length, of which 35 are world premieres.
The event will open on April 7 with the Swiss premiere of Fire Of Love following its premiere at Sundance in January. Sara Dosa’s film is a portrait of intrepid French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft who travelled the world capturing extraordinary imagery before dying in a volcanic eruption in 1991.
In a show of solidarity to the people of Ukraine, Iryna Tsilyk’s 2020 documentary The Earth Is Blue As An Orange will close the festival on April 17. The film follows a family in Ukraine’s Donbass region; their equilibrium is linked to their passion for cinema, despite the chaos caused by the war outside.
Sixteen films will play in the international feature competition, of which 15 are world premieres.
Among these are Jumana Manna’s Palestinian title Foragers, based on the director’s previous video installation, about Palestinians collecting wild thyme and thistle indigenous to the country, despite the criminalisation of the practice by the Israeli government.
Manna’s previous work includes 2015 doc A Magical Substance Flows Into Me, which played at Berlinale Forum, Melbourne and Rotterdam.
Twelve world premieres will play as part of 15 medium- and feature-length films in the Burning Lights competition, including the world premiere of Russian-Portuguese feature Red Africa from St. Petersburg-based filmmaker Alexander Markov.
Markov uses Soviet propagandist newsreels and documentaries about Africa from 1960-1990 to show how Russia’s plans for the continent evolved and then vanished over three decades.
Twelve world premieres will play as part of 13 medium- and feature-length Swiss productions and co-productions in the National Competition.
The festival will honour US filmmaker Kirsten Johnson as a special guest, with screenings of seven of her films including 2016’s Cameraperson and 2020’s Dick Johnson Is Dead. It will also present a retrospective of the work of Algerian filmmaker Hassen Ferhani in addition to welcoming previously announced guest of honour, Italian director Marco Bellocchio.
Industry selection
Now in its 16th year, VdR’s industry strand will present 27 projects by 32 filmmakers, representing 29 different nations.
Sixteen of these are feature-length and ready for production; they will take part in international co-production and financing forum VdR Pitching.
These include Whitney Legge’s US project Rodeo Queens, confronting the deeply-rooted sexism in the rodeo industry.
Other strands of the industry section include a seven-strong work In progress showcase and four titles in a Rough Cut Lab. The industry section will run from April 10-14, in-person in Nyon.
The festival announced the lineup for the Grand Angle and Latitudes sections earlier this month, with titles in the former including Ukrainian feature A House Made Of Splinters.
Visions du Réel 2022 lineup
* - world premiere
International Feature Film Competition
5 Dreamers and a Horse (Arm-Ger-Switz-Den-Geo) dirs. Aren Malakyan, Vahagn Khachatryan*
A Holy Family (Tai-Fr) dir. Elvis A-Liang Lu*
All of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars (Swe) dir. Jennifer Rainsford*
Bitterbrush (US) dir. Emelie Mahdavian
Chaylla (Fr) dirs. Clara Teper, Paul Pirritano*
Dogwatch (Gr-Fr) dir. Gregoris Rentis*
Leading Lights (Bel) dir. Lydie Wisshaupt*
Foragers (Pal) dir. Jumana Manna*
How to Save a Dead Friend (Swe-Nor) dir. Marusya Syroechkovskaya*
Inner Lines (Fr-Bel) dir. Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd*
Like an Island (Switz) dir. Tizian Buchi*
My Paper Life (Bel-Fr-Iran) dir. Vida Dena*
My Old Man (Switz) dir. Steven Vit*
Rojek (Can) dir. Zayne Akyol
Steel Life (Peru-Sp) dir. Manuel Bauer*
Tara (Ger-It) dirs. Volker Sattel, Francesca Bertin
Burning Lights Competition
A Long Journey Home (China) dir. Wenqian Zhang*
Burial (Lith-Nor) dir. Emilija Skarnulyte*
Eami (Par-Neth) dir. Paz Encina
Europe (Ger-Fr) dir. Philip Scheffner
Far Away Eyes (Tai-Fr) dir. Chun-Hong Wang
Getting Old Stinks (Switz) dir. Peter Entell*
Ghost Fair Trade (Switz) dirs. Laurence Bonvin, Cheikh Ndiaye*
H (Sp) dir. Carlos Pardo Ros*
Herbaria (Arg-Ger) dir. Leandro Listorti*
Kapr Code (Cze-Slovakia) dir. Lucie Kralova*
Luminum (Arg) dir. Maximiliano Schonfeld*
Olho animal (Fr) dir. Maxime Martinot*
Ollin Blood (Fr-Mex) dirs. Elise Florenty, Marcel Turkowsky*
Red Africa (Rus-Por) dir. Alexander Markov*
Remainders (Sp) dir. Raul Capdevila Murillo
National Competition
Ardente . x . s (Switz) dir. Patrick Muroni*
Calvinia (Switz) dir. Rudi van der Merwe*
Couvre-feu: A Diary by Monique Saint-Helier (Switz) dir. Rachel Noel*
Don’t Worry About India (Switz-Ger-India) dir. Nama Filmcollective*
Dragon Women (Bel-Switz-S Kor) dir. Frederique de Montblanc
Fuku Nashi (Switz-Jap) dir. Julie Sando*
Garconnieres (Switz) dir. Celine Pernet
Big Boy (Switz) dir. Louise Carrin
Le Film de mon pere (Switz) dir. Jules Guarneri*
The Penitetiary (Switz) dir. Anne Theurillat*
Peripherique nord (Por-Switz-Uru) dir. Paulo Carneiro*
Sons of the Wind (Switz-Col) dir. Feliple Monroy*
Supertime (Switz) dir. Daniel Kemeny
Special screenings
Elizabeth (UK) dir. Roger Michell*
Mr. Landsbergis (US-Neth-Lith) dir. Sergei Loznitsa
Vedette (Fr) dirs. Claudine Bories, Patrice Chagnard
River (Australia) dir. Jennifer Peedom
The Earth Is Blue as an Orange (Ukr-Lith) dir. Iryna Tsilyk
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