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The 57th edition of the Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel concluded on Friday, with the awards dominated by films focusing on personal and political themes. The film From Dawn to Dawn, directed by Xisi Sofia Ye Chen, won the Grand Jury Prize in the International Feature Film Competition. The film explores the life of the director’s brother, who lives in Spain and works in the criminal underworld, delving into the conflicts between his criminal past and family obligations.
The film received a cash prize of 20,000 Swiss francs (approximately 22,000 USD). Jury members Rémi Bonhomme, Lina Soualem, and Brett Story praised the film as "an astonishing and confident debut, a complex and intimate portrayal of the effects of exile and the struggle to reclaim life."
Other Awards Highlight Personal and Political Relationships
The jury awarded a special prize to A Fire There by director Marlene Edoyan, which depicts the friendship of three young men in a politically unstable environment in Georgia. Additionally, Djeliya, mémoire du Mandé by Boubacar Sangaré received a special mention.
In the Burning Lights competition, the Grand Prize went to Alea Jacarandas by director Hassen Ferhani. This work explores themes of memory and inheritance through recurring visual symbols such as jacaranda flowers, accompanied by a cash prize of 10,000 Swiss francs.
The Audience Award was given to Birds of War, directed by Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak. The film presents a personal archive spanning over a decade from a Lebanese journalist and a Syrian photographer, also receiving a cash prize of 10,000 Swiss francs.
The Festival and Its Artistic Vision
Artistic director Emilie Bujès noted that the awards list reflects the festival’s identity as a platform for films that break traditional documentary cinema boundaries, offering audiences opportunities to shift their perspectives. The festival navigates contrasting states such as joy and horror, darkness and beauty, siege and freedom.
The festival continues until Sunday with screenings of the winning films, while the online program remains available until May 4.
This news has been re-edited based on a report published by variety.com, maintaining the essential facts from the original source.
