With the motto "50 years of freedom, 50 years of openness, 50 years of film", the Festival Visions du Réel celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019. From 5.-13. April, 169 films from 58 countries were scheduled. 15 films premiered in the International Competition - Feature Film. The Interreligious Jury chose its winner from them. They awarded "When the Persimmons Grew" by Hilal Baydarov from Azerbaïdjan which also received a Commendation by the international festival jury. The Interreligious Jury awarded a Commendation as well: to "Norie" by Japanese-born director Yuki Kawamura.
The winner of the main festival prizes were "Heimat Is a Space in Time" by Thomas Heise (best long film) and "That Which Does Not Kill" by Alexe Poukine (most innovative long film). The title of the latter refers to the difficulties of victims of a rape to speak about their experience.
For its anniversary, the festival organized a retrospective in the section "Cinquante" curated by the festival's four former artistic directors: Moritz and Erika de Hadeln, Jean Perret and Luciano Barisone. The Churches invited to an ecumenical service and celebrated the festival by a reception. At this occasion Marianne Ejdersten, Director of Communication of the World Council of Churches (WCC), appreciated the art of film as a "prophetic voice". With a retrospective of 14 of his films, and the title Maître du Réel, the director Werner Herzog was honored.
The festival was opened with the Finnish documentary "Gods of Molenbeek", which received the award of the Church Media Foundation at the Tampere Film Festival before.
Link: Festival-Homepage