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Festival coverage

Visions du Réel

12 April – 21 April 2024

The Swiss festival dedicated to non-fiction films runs from April 12 to 21 in Nyon.

Other years (2)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Okurimono
    Review preview for Okurimono

    Beautifully shot and measured in its purpose, Okurimono invites the viewer to patiently discover the emotional layers of a story about generational pain and the need to constantly address it to pave the path for rejuvenation.

    Sergiu Inizian · 4 out of 5
    Returning to her home country to prepare her late mother's home for sale, a Japanese woman finds a collection of letters that alter her perception of her mother's experiences as a survivor of the nuclear bombing.
  • Mother Vera
    Review preview for Mother Vera

    The camera is close when it needs to be but often focused on a detail, such as hands on a rosary or capturing the detail of surroundings, including religious iconography or the texture of a horse’s coat that help us to feel Mother Vera’s place within these spaces.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    An Orthodox nun in a Belarussian convent considers her past and her future.
  • Kamay
    Review preview for Kamay

    As the modest camera follows Younes and his family, the directors dignify his struggle.

    Sergiu Inizian · 3.5 out of 5
    A sorrow-stricken family from rural Afghanistan seeks justice following the tragic death of their daughter, Zahra, a student at Kabul University.
  • My Stolen Planet
    Review preview for My Stolen Planet

    Through a collage of footage shot by numerous brave protesters, she pieces together a statement about film as identity, in a country where the individual slowly fades away.

    Sergiu Inizian · 4 out of 5
    Farah, an Iranian woman, is forced to migrate to her private planet to be free. She buys other people’s memories in the form of Super 8 films and records and archives her own to create an alternative history of Iran.
  • Reas
    Review preview for Reas

    It’s quickly apparent that entering prison means becoming part of the collective body that is the prisoner population, with the choreographed movements that accompany the songs reinforcing the sense of synchronicity.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    A group of prison inmates re-enact their lives and sentences, balancing memories with fantasy.
  • Realm Of Satan
    Review preview for Realm Of Satan

    The Devil, you might say, is in the details.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    An experiential portrait depicting Satanists in both the everyday and in the extraordinary as they fight to preserve their lifestyle: magic, mystery, and misanthropy.
  • A New Kind Of Wilderness
    Review preview for A New Kind Of Wilderness

    A heartfelt film.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    In a forest in Norway, a family lives an isolated lifestyle in an attempt to be wild and free, but a tragic event changes everything, and they are forced to adjust to modern society.
  • Pictures Of Ghosts
    Review preview for Pictures Of Ghosts

    These are the nooks and crannies where the ghosts still hang out, whistling in the dark, eager to haunt anew a crowd.

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
    A portrait of the city of Recife, re-envisioned in its 20th Century glory through the remains of the cinema palaces which were central to its busy social milieu.
  • Iron Butterflies
    Review preview for Iron Butterflies

    Liubyi’s film succeeds in bringing home not just the enormity of the crash itself but of the scale of what was lost aboard.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    In summer 2014, sunflower fields and coal mines in eastern Ukraine turned into a 12 square kilometer crime scene. A multi-layered investigation into the downing of flight MH17, in which a butterfly-shaped shrapnel was found in the pilot's body, implicated the state responsible for a war crime that remains unpunished.
  • The Gullspång Miracle
    Review preview for The Gullspång Miracle

    Although the structure is offbeat, and the muscular scoring from Jonas Colstrup (The Square) emphasises the emotional rollercoaster, Fredriksson’s film remains empathetic to all concerned.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    A pair of sisters' encounter with a woman who looks like their dead sibling proves to be just the start of a whale of a tale.

A–Z of Visions du Réel 2024 reviews

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