The 54th Festival Visions du Réel took place in Nyon, Switzerland, from April 21st to the 30th.
An interreligious jury composed by INTERFILM, the International Inter-Church Film Organisation and SIGNIS, World Catholic Association for Communication, have been present at this Festival since 2005, alongside jurors of the Jewish and Muslim faiths.
The interreligious jury in 2023 consisted of Alain Nicolas Besson from Switzerland as President, Linda Dombrovszky from Hungary, Garance Hayat from France and Mohammad Rezaeian, from Iran/Switzerland.
The jury awards a feature-length film from the international competition consisting of 14 films, that shed light on existential, social or spiritual questions as well as human values.
The prize of CHF 5’000 is donated by the Swiss Roman Catholic Church (RKZ), and the Media Department Média-pro of the Reformed Churches in the French-speaking part of Switzerland (CER), and is also supported by the Swiss Protestant Church (EKS) and the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities.
This year, the Jury awarded its prize to the film “Pure Unknown” by Valentina Cigogna and Mattia Colombo (Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, 2023).
Pure Unknown shows the professional, empathetic, and committed work of Italian forensic doctor Cristina Cattaneo, who has made it her duty to identify the bodies of “complete unknowns” found by the police. The camera moves with delicacy and modesty through the autopsy rooms and interviews with the relatives of the missing, highlighting the profound humanity with which the doctor invests her gestures and words. The film is a witness to Cristina’s contacts with a member of the European Parliament and opens up in an unexpected way to the question of migration and the suffering it generates. Informing families of the death of their loved ones in the Mediterranean Sea is the last possible act of respect in a world torn apart.