“We are a festival of audiovisual culture,” says Anais Emery of the 2022 Geneva Film Festival - Screen International

At the halfway of the Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF) and its parallel Geneva Film Market (GFM) is the exploration of the improvement of stories and the innovations successful the mode they are told, says GIFF creator manager Anais Emery, of the lawsuit that is taking spot successful Switzerland from November 4-13.

This twelvemonth volition beryllium the 28th variation of the festival and the 2nd nether the stewardship of Emery who joined successful January 2021 aft respective years arsenic creator manager of chap Swiss festival, Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival.

She says the line-up volition absorption connected innovative storytelling delivered via the myriad audiovisual mediums present disposable to creators. It volition see films, tv bid and web contented to installations, virtual world and extended world (XR) works.

“Even if we person the name, we are not a movie festival. We are a festival of audiovisual culture, we privation to prehend the creator challenge, and besides the concern situation and the situation of that narration with the assemblage present astatine GIFF,” says Emery. “We are focused connected creating a dialog and reflection astir the improvement and the innovation successful presumption of creator opportunities.”

This year’s GIFF sees the instrumentality of Virtual Territories, a 600m2 venue ane sidebar dedicated to integer creation, thought to beryllium the biggest successful Europe, which volition showcase astir 40 works.

It is hosting 2 large immersive installations: One is an immersive play Les Aveugles, based connected the iconic substance by Maurice Maeterlinck; the different is the European debut of virtual world lawsuit Evolver, narrated by Cate Blanchett and enforcement produced by Edward R. Pressman, Terrence Malick and French workplace Atlas V. It combines Blanchett’s dependable with psychedelic images, open-eyed meditation, euphony to make a contemplative exploration of the quality body.

“We effort to let radical to spell into the storytelling of the worlds arsenic soon arsenic they get successful the festival’s Virtual Territories space,” says Emery. “We privation to enactment the exertion down and the acquisition successful front.”

The 10^th edition of the Geneva Film Market runs during the festival from November 7 to 11 with its premix of masterclasses, roundtables and discussions crossed topics including integer platforms and latest integer innovations for the audiovisual assemblage to the ecological interaction of integer use.

Traditional cinema 

Feature films person a important relation to play astatine GIFF and the lawsuit is an important nationalist motorboat to audiences. The lineup includies arthouse titles specified arsenic Silent Twins, the English-language debut of Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczynska which premiered astatine Un Certain Regard successful Cannes this year. Also screening are Phyllis Nagy’s Sundance rubric Call Jane, starring Sigourney Weaver and Elizabeth Banks, and François Pirot’s Swiss-Belgian co-production Ailleurs Sil j’y Suis, starring Jean-Luc Bideau, which volition marque its Swiss debut with filmmaker and prima expected successful town. 

The planetary diagnostic movie contention volition spot 10 titles vie for the Reflet d’Or, which comes with a CHF10,000 (€10,000) purse from the City of Geneva. The enactment includes Alice Diop’s debut fabrication diagnostic Saint Omer, which is France’s introduction to the champion planetary movie Oscar category, Korean filmmaker Shin Su-Won’s Hommage, a movie billed arsenic a emotion missive to pistillate filmmakers and the Japanese animation Inu-oh from Masaaki Yuasa.

Further contention titles see Cristina Grosan’s Ordinary Failures and Goutte d’Or, from filmmaker Clement Cogitore.

The festival has achieved sex parity successful the planetary contention selection. “We worked hard for that,” says Emery. “Our argumentation is that we don’t amusement excessively galore titles successful GIFF truthful we tin decently level the ones we bash show.”

The planetary assemblage volition beryllium headed by Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi, whose latest movie Subtraction is screening astatine GIFF. Festival organisers anticipation Haghighi volition beryllium capable to question to Switzerland successful idiosyncratic pursuing a last-minute question prohibition imposed connected him by the Iranian authorities conscionable arsenic helium was owed to travel to the BFI London Film Festival successful October.

“The Festival is acrophobic astir the Iranian government’s attacks connected the state of look and question of its people,” said GIFF organisers successful a connection successful October. “The GIFF besides wishes to amusement its enactment for Iranian artists who are victims of intolerable repression. The Festival volition not alteration the president of the assemblage and is successful interaction with Mani Haghighi successful bid to let him to enactment successful the Festival either connected tract oregon online.”

There are 2 further contention strands for champion bid and champion immersive work, each offering a €10,000 currency prize.The second volition beryllium chosen from 10 works successful virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, exploring the connections betwixt communicative and technology.

GIFF volition besides big the European Script Award for a 3rd year, which offers a €10,000 prize to a new, archetypal bid from a rising European screenwriter.

Danish manager Nicolas Winding Refn volition beryllium honoured with the Geneva Award up of the Swiss premiere of his Netflix bid Copenhagen Cowboy. Also receiving an honour is filmmaker and histrion Alexandre Astier with The Film & Beyond award.

“What’s absorbing for america [at GIFF}] is to spot however the audiovisual mean is giving tools to the storytellers to evolve,” Emery says. “We ever travel caller trends, not due to the fact that we privation to beryllium technological oregon immersive oregon due to the fact that it’s a caller thing, but due to the fact that we privation to amusement however emerging technologies service the imaginativeness supra all.”

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