Visions du Reel 2023 – awards: chapter 1

Stress and visuality. The directors - but not Alice - in survivalist lands. Fragility.

Compétition Internationale Longs Métrages:

While the Green Grass Grows

Peter Mettler

First, there is the Appenzell countryside, and the melting snow that makes the streams overflow. Then the death of his mother, and the need to spend time with his father. On top of that, a global pandemic. Peter Mettler is a rare gem of a filmmaker. Here he (re)constructs the filmed diary of his intimate relationship with the world and the beings that inhabit it, in this work of documentary goldsmithery.

Compétition Burning Lights: Knit's Island

Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse & Quentin L'helgoualc'h

Somewhere on the internet is a land where communities pretend to live out a survivalist fiction. The avatars of the directors of Knit’s Island spent 963 hours there, creating a fascinating film resulting from their encounter with these communities. The “players” reveal their fears and fantasies, in an at times unsettling blurring of the real and the virtual.

Compétition Nationale: Chagrin Valley

Nathalie Berger

The Chagrin Valley assisted living facility for dementia sufferers is home to a fragile and ageing population. Punctuated by fleeting conflicts, confusion and long-awaited family visits, the day-to-day life of the residents drags on. Chagrin Valley is a caring enquiry into our relationship with old age and a glimpse into the substance of our collective dreams.