I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray, I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

William Butler Yeats, 1865.

Visions du Réel 2011 will develop the existing concept which has been the central element of the sixteen previous festivals advocating the notion that the documentary genre is not just driven by the subject but also by the form. Around this central notion the Festival intends to further promote a new appreciation of film focused on cinéma du reel. Fiction and cinéma du réel differ not just in terms of means (production and distribution), but they also differ in that there is a lack in the documentary’s appeal to the spectator. This deficiency is mainly due to the prevailing idea that the documentary’s strong point is its subject: a view shared by most spectators as well as most producers, distributors and above all programmers and broadcasters.

To reconnect with a true appreciation of the cinema and to apply it to the documentary will require acknowledging the existence of a personal narrative approach and of authorship. As from next year, Visions du Réel will initiate exchanges on this theme, not only by means of round table discussions, film reviews and blogs, but also by reducing the number of films selected to promote them more effectively in the face of the more mundane production of images. The Festival has decided to confirm its pro-active stance by means of a precise understanding of the notion of creative film, either in the form of portraits, essays, personal reports or diaries, or even the fictional observation of reality – linked to past and present. With its International Competition, the exposure it gives young filmmakers, its workshops, and its retrospectives, Visions du Réel will be a landmark event promoting the excellence of cinéma du réel.

The idea at the heart of all the programming of this film genre is that its raison d’être is not only aesthetical, it is also ethical; the quality of the genre should foster a greater awareness on the part of the filmmaker and the spectator; at the same time film can provide a means of impacting reality itself. All this will only become possible in a spirit of mutual respect, exchange, and love for humanity.

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