Visions of "the Real"

Neighboring city Nyon (about 5-10 minutes along the lake road) has just finished hosting the 2010 Visions du Réel - Nyon International Documentary Film Festival.  "Réel" in French means "real" or "reality."  The Festival was held from 15-21 April and was very well attended.  Its name also represents a bilingual double-entendre when one considers that "reel" in English is what used to be the standard for film before the digital era effectively rendered metal spools redundant.   

The Festival program always includes meetings and dialogue to discuss every form of cinéma du réel, which includes experimental films, essays, diaries, family films, major reports, historical inquiries, and epic or fragmentary stories.  As described here, the Festival attempts to be a crossroads, presenting opportunities for new discoveries, encounters and discussions.  Working in French, German and English, it acts an axis which provides a link between French and German-speaking cultures especially.  Its objective is to show the world as it is perceived - to break away from the mainstream.  To do so, it "offers a diversity of committed and inspired points of view while making it possible to correlate experiences, reflections and aspirations."

While several prizes were awarded to films in various categories, the Grand Prix Visions du Réel, in an amount of CHF 20,000, was awarded to Danish filmmaker, Michael Madsen for his film, "Into Eternity," dealing with problems associated with a facility for storing nuclear waste in Finland.

English-language reviews of several films shown at the Festival can be found here.   The Prix du jury du public was awarded to "Salaam Isfahan," a film giving voice to individuals living in Isfahan, Iran, allowing them to express their hopes and aspirations, letting the humanity that we share in common shine through.  A review can be found here.

One of the films opening the Festival was "Aisheen (Still Alive in Gaza)," showing life in Gaza after the January 2009 Israeli offensive there.  This film received a brief mention in Variety in February 2010 and a standing ovation from the live audience in Nyon last week, especially because there were a few surprises along with the showing, as narrated in the review here.  A trailer can be found here.    

The variety of documentaries and points of view represented at this Festival is not only impressive but hopeful.  Large parts of the global community are being mobilized in a positive manner to recognize issues and problems and to present and discuss them in an articulate and thorough manner, without censorship.  With too many mainstream media outlets and brain-dead politicians or "talking heads" with draconian agendas articulating points of view on the airwaves, often without factual basis or logic and often to the extent of literally dehumanizing other human beings, it is welcome to see other fora and competent individuals receiving due recognition.  These fora inform, do not preach, identify problems, pose thoughtful questions and get people to think about what common positive steps should be taken to make meaningful changes.  Well done, Nyon!