Image: Closing ceremony in Nyon, April 25
The 52nd edition of Visions du Réel drew to a close on Tuesday evening with 46’600 admissions and viewings and the end of voting for the Grand Angle Competition. The public have chosen to award the 2021 Audience Award to Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway, 2020).
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Flee wins the Audience Award
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Image: Flee, Jonas Poher Rasmussen, winner of the Audience Award
Made mainly with stunning animation to preserve the anonymity of its characters, Flee embarks the audience on a refugee's harrowing journey to find asylum abroad, as well as his intimate relationship with homosexuality.
“For me Visions du Réel has always signaled quality, bravery and good taste in moviemaking. And while I would of course have loved to be there in person, it’s really special to know that Flee made it to Nyon without me and met the audience who appreciated the film so much that they wanted to give it this award. I’m truly grateful”, said Jonas Poher Rasmussen. The Audience Award of the Grand Angle Competition is sponsored by the City of Nyon and endowed with CHF 10,000.
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Image: Closing ceremony, Faya Dayi by Jessica Beshir wins the Grand Jury Prize sponsored by la Mobilière as well as the FIPRESCI Award.
After being one of the first festivals to become purely digital within five weeks in 2020, Visions du Réel is one of the first events this year to offer a hybrid adventure – this time within just a few days – along with all its challenges. From a practical point of view, in 2021 the Festival decided to limit its online screenings to 500, over 72 hours and geo-blocked on the Swiss national territory. The hybrid edition totalled 46,600 admissions and viewings.
This year, Visions du Réel has organised three Festivals in one and joyously begun a return to the new normality. The hybrid nature of the 52nd edition enabled to affirm the new prospects discovered last year, while restoring the Festival's very essence and qualities. All the guests, professionals and audience who were able to participate in the Festival were delighted to finally find again the screening rooms, the discussions, and the atmosphere of the Festival, even if it was inevitably different.
750 pupils and students were able to watch films in movie theaters this year, while over 950 pupils followed us online. The Festival issued more than 2’150 accreditations and registered 46,600 tickets and viewings, which is very gratifying. The opening film, which was broadcast on the national TV channel RTS2, had an audience of 23,000 people. As for the Festival website, it had more than 64,600 unique visitors in 10 days, 45% of which came from abroad.
The next edition will take place from 8 to 17 April 2022.
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Discover awarded films from past editions of Visions du Réel with Tënk!
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As an extension of Visions du Réel, discover on Tënk France and Europe award-winning films from previous editions of the Festival, including Na China by Marie Voignier, Trouble Sleep by Alain Kassanda, Raving Iran by Susanne Regina Meures or Pyrale by Roxanne Gaucherand.
The Mexican-Salvadorian director Tatiana Huezo, who was invited this year as part of Visions du Réel's Ateliers 2021, will also be featured on Tënk, a platform dedicated to documentary cinema. The programme includes the films Tempestad, Absences and El lugar más pequeño.
Tënk, the platform dedicated to documentary cinema: classics, new films, from festivals or schools, free from media formatting... discover exceptional documentaries renewed every week, chosen and defended by passionate people. Thanks to Visions du Réel's partnership with Tënk, get a 1-month subscription to explore Tënk, the SVOD platform dedicated to documentary cinema.
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