Visions du Réel
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| Location | Nyon, Switzerland |
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| Founded | 1969, Moritz de Hadeln |
| Directed by | Luciano Barisone |
| Festival date | Annually, in April |
| Language | International |
| Website | http://www.visionsdureel.ch/ |
Visions du Réel (Visions of Reality) is an internationally renowned documentary film festival held in April each year in Nyon, Switzerland. Established in 1969 as the Nyon International Documentary Film Festival, the event adopted its current name in 1995 and is the largest Swiss documentary festival.
At its inception, the festival promoted Swiss films and films that were otherwise inaccessible — that is, those created in the Eastern Bloc countries behind the Iron Curtain. Now open to worldwide entries, the week-long festival has been directed by film critic Jean Perret since 1995.
The festival was founded by Moritz de Hadeln (who later headed the Locarno International Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, the Venice International Film Festival and the short-lived New Montreal FilmFest of 2005) and his wife Erika von dem Hagen:
Moritz de Hadeln directed the festival until 1979, and he assisted Erika when she took over as head of the festival from 1980 to 1993.
During the early years of the Nyon International Documentary Film Festival, Erika de Hadeln negotiated with the film authorities in East Europe and Russia — and worked with documentary film-makers including Joris Ivens, Roman Karmen, Georges Rouquier, Basil Wright, and Henri Storck. The event served as a template for film festivals that followed, including those in Amsterdam and Munich.
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