02/11/2017 - Cineuropa talked to Emilie Bujès, the new artistic director of Visions du Réel, about the first new elements that she has introduced

Cineuropa met up with Emilie Bujès, the new artistic director of Visions du Réel (13-21 April 2018). She succeeded Luciano Barisone, who was the head of the festival for seven years. Bujès is determined to infuse the festival with her personality while making sure to retain the quality and distinctiveness which have established Visions du Réel’s reputation. We talked to her about the first new elements that she has introduced, especially in relation to the different sections of the festival.

Cineuropa: You say that the new elements introduced this year are in the spirit of past festivals. Can you tell us more about this subject? Why did you choose to follow in your predecessor’s footsteps?
Emilie Bujès: I worked with the previous director, Luciano Barisone, for five years and I certainly share some of his ideas and visions regarding cinema. However, the continuity aspect is for me even more related to the identity of Visions du Réel itself, which over the last few years has shown itself to be a place for discovery, in every sense of the word. I think that for us the most relevant way of working is to constantly be looking for new talent, new works, new forms. We had a section dedicated to first films, and I decided to change it to allow more flexibility: first films can now be found anywhere in the programme and appear there in larger numbers, in years when the selection goes in that direction.

Beyond this aspect related purely to programming, my profile and experience will certainly have a large influence on the identity of Visions du Réel, as well as on the way in which the festival will develop in the coming years.

The innovations introduced this year in terms of programming show a real openness to the future: openness to new documentary vocabularies (Burning Lights) and young filmmakers (Opening Scenes). Why did you introduce these new sections?
Burning Lights comes from wanting to make the programming even more understandable and to affirm our desire to include films in the programme that explore new ways of writing, experiment with limits – whether they are visual or directly related to the question of the fiction/documentary relationship – interrogate gaze, perception, the cinematic experience, etc.

Opening Scenes is the progression of the Premiers Pas competition. In this case, it involves taking advantage of the context of the festival, which includes a large market with numerous professionals, to allow young filmmakers to learn about the industry and participate in a programme developed especially for them. However, the selection is done based on the films; it’s an essential aspect for me.

But you actually summed it up very well; there are two movements here, which definitely still run through the festival in other ways, and consist of searching for and defending new artists and vocabularies.

What are the major challenges that you face as the new artistic director of Visions du Réel?
I believe that it involves personal desires first of all. The festival is strong, as much when it comes to the audience (which has doubled over the last seven festivals) as in terms of its professional appeal. Even so, there are a lot of festivals and it is essential to be able to maintain a distinctiveness and very high artistic standards to ensure that professionals continue to be there.

Regarding the public, I hope to expand things a little bit, attract an even wider range of audience members, if possible in a way that is also transdisciplinary, as well as more young people, not only to seek out tomorrow’s audiences, but also to support the idea that documentary film is a very rich and tremendously exciting genre.

(Translated by Margaret Finnell)