Visions du Réel at the Edge of the Real
Visions du Réel 2026 gathers in Nyon as one of Europe’s key forums for documentary
Every April, Nyon functions as one of documentary cinema’s more exacting barometers. Visions du Réel, in its 57th edition running 17 to 26 April, presents 164 films from 75 countries, with 83 world premieres, reaffirming its role as a key site where nonfiction is exhibited and debated. Laura Poitras opened the edition, while Kelly Reichardt, Sergei Loznitsa, and Meriem Bennani anchor a guest lineup.
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News
Visions du Réel sets 2026 slate with Cover-Up, The Mastermind, Dao and Melt
Films
American Doctor
Director: Poh Si Teng
Following three American physicians in and beyond Gaza, American Doctor confronts genocide, media legibility, and the ever-collapsing distance between war and domestic responsibility.
Birds of War
Director: Janay Boulos, Abdel Alkader Habak
The unequal power dynamics of global journalism through a love story forged across war, exile, and reporting.
Cover-Up
Director: Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus
Seymour Hersh and the Socratic sting.
Ghost Elephants
Director: Werner Herzog
With Ghost Elephants, Werner Herzog creates another work within his transgressive anthropology.
Melt
Director: Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Geyrhalter’s latest film observes global snowscapes and people amid tourism and research, documenting the vanishing ice, extreme weather, and urgent climate policy questions.
Replica
Director: Chouwa Liang
In Replica, women turn to AI partners for comfort, affirmation, and emotional refuge, exposing the social and psychological conditions that make such attachments possible.
Tristan Forever
Director: Tobias Nölle, Loran Bonnardot
A piano on a cargo ship opens Tristan Forever, a film about Tristan da Cunha and a doctor’s longing for distance, belonging, and a simpler life.
Whispers in May
Director: Dongnan Chen
Set in China's Liangshan Mountains, the hybrid documentary gently draws us into the world of a 14-year-old girl and her two best friends.