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Visions du Réel — A–Z of films

2026

  • 0

  • American Doctor
    Review preview for American Doctor

    A fourth doctor, unsuccessful in his efforts to get to Gaza, helps in whatever ways he can. This enables the film to move between intense scenes within Gaza itself, and the US, where it’s easier to breathe.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    When three American doctors — Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian — enter Gaza to save lives, they find themselves caught between medicine and politics, risking everything to expose the truth.
  • Babi Yar. Context
    Review preview for Babi Yar. Context

    The way June 1941 is presented here, the looming warfare seems to happen in the present

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
    Nazi troops massacre 33,771 Jews in Kyiv over a two-day period in September 1941.
  • Bouchra
    Review preview for Bouchra

    This isn’t about rejection but about navigating the difficulties full acceptance bring.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    A New York-based filmmaker writes an autobiographical script about a fictional double, while also appearing in animated form as a coyote moving through a city of furry creatures.
  • Certain Women
    Review preview for Certain Women

    Certain Women is a film suffused in uncertainties.

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
    Triptych of stories about women in small-town America.

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  • Donbass
    Review preview for Donbass

    Each successive scene hits you over the head with the ferocity of the action.

    Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
    In the Donbass, a region of Eastern Ukraine, a hybrid war takes place, involving an open armed conflict alongside killings and robberies on a mass scale perpetrated by separatist gangs.
  • First Cow
    Review preview for First Cow

    The simplest of pleasures bring the greatest moments of joy in Reichardt’s latest film.

    Matthew Anderson · 4.5 out of 5
    A cook with a group of fur trappers strikes up a connection with a Chinese emigre in the Old West.
  • From Dawn To Dawn
    Review preview for From Dawn To Dawn

    Chen narrates the piece herself, and that voice is crucial. She has the instincts of a poet and the discipline of a storyteller

    Edin Custo · 4 out of 5
    Observes a man torn between criminal heritage, familial duty and a search for moral clarity.
  • Heat
    Review preview for Heat

    Zünd’s film comes at extreme climate change from a human perspective, showing its impact on those who live in the region.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    After envisioning a near future in which climate change disrupts lives and relationships in Don’t Let the Sun, Zünd seeks out that same dystopia in the real world.

  • I

  • The Illusion Of A Quiet Night
    Review preview for The Illusion Of A Quiet Night

    The strength of The Illusion Of A Quiet Night lies in the huge range of perspectives it contains.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Filmed during one night in July 2025 by forty filmmakers and hundreds of citizens, The Illusion of a Quiet Night paints a vast collective portrait of war-torn Ukraine.
  • The Invasion
    Review preview for The Invasion

    Loznitsa’s approach is quietly observational, capturing the quotidian goings on as they continue beneath the shadow of war.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Life in Ukraine under the shadow of war.
  • Jaripeo
    Review preview for Jaripeo

    The documentary is attentive to contradiction without flattening its subjects into symbols.

    Edin Custo · 3.5 out of 5
    A journey to Michoacán’s hypermasculine rodeos descends into the subconscious of memory, queer desire, and longing, leading to a reckoning with the wounds and beauty of a home left behind.
  • The Kiev Trial
    Review preview for The Kiev Trial

    It is impossible to look at the faces of the witnesses speaking here and not see their pain, not know that what they are speaking is the truth.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A forensic reconstruction of the trial of 15 people which took place in January of 1946 in the Soviet Union, and was one of the first post-war trials convicting German Nazis and their collaborators.

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  • Maidan
    Review preview for Maidan

    Purely observational though it is, this is a film that becomes devastating in its intensity.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A documentary about the unrest in Ukraine in 2013 and 2014.
  • The Mastermind
    Review preview for The Mastermind

    Reichardt’s attention to detail is visible in every aspect, and the perfect casting is no exception.

    Marko Stojiljkovic · 4.5 out of 5
    In a quiet corner of Massachusetts circa 1970, JB Mooney, an unemployed carpenter turned amateur art thief, plots his first major heist. But when things go south, his life is turned upside down.
  • Meek's Cutoff
    Review preview for Meek's Cutoff

    Along with her eye for composition, Reichardt also deserves praise for the focus on the smaller period details.

    Owen Van Spall · 3.5 out of 5
    Drama tracks a wagon train on the 1840s Oregon Trail.
  • Nuisance Bear
    Review preview for Nuisance Bear

    By viewing the situation, at least initially, mostly from the perspective of the bears, the directors ask us to consider who exactly is trespassing on whose turf.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A polar bear is forced to navigate a human world of tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as its ancient migration collides with modern life. When a sacred predator is branded a nuisance, it becomes unclear who truly belongs in this shared landscape.
  • Old Joy
    Review preview for Old Joy

    Kurt does all the talking, which can be annoying, because he’s a boring guy. Mark is boring, too, but in a passive way.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 2 out of 5
    Two friends go camping in Oregon. They take the dog. They have a hot bath in the woods. They come home.

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  • Sirât
    Review preview for Sirât

    The film looks amazing, but it sounds even more incredible.

    Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
    A father arrives at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco with his son, looking for his daughter who has been missing for months.
  • To Hold A Mountain
    Review preview for To Hold A Mountain

    Filmed over seven seasons, the co-directors make time tactile.

    Edin Custo · 5 out of 5
    In the remote highlands of Montenegro, a shepherd mother and daughter proudly defend their ancestral mountain from the threat of becoming a NATO military training ground, stirring memories of the violence that shattered their family.

  • V

  • Wendy And Lucy
    Review preview for Wendy And Lucy

    This quiet, unfussy film feels more important than a whole host of glossy blockbusters.

    Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
    Drama about a young woman's attempts to find her lost dog.