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AVA DUVERNAY

Film & Beyond – DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, WRITER – 02-05.11

For its anniversary edition, the GIFF is delighted to honor the remarkable career of one of the most important filmmakers of her generation: Ava DuVernay. From the very start, she established herself as a brilliant and talented filmmaker, notably winning the Best Director Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012. Leading her own production company and consistently dedicated to challenging racist and sexist stereotypes, Ava DuVernay has directed works such as Middle of Nowhere (2012), Selma (2014), the Netflix series When They See Us (2019), and finally Origin (2023). She will receive the Film & Beyond Award in recognition of her exceptional contribution to diversifying perspectives and representations in cinema, and will reflect on her inspiring journey and her ever-evolving social and political commitment during a moderated conference.

Full program here!

FOCUS LEOS CARAX

LEOS CARAX

Focus LEos Carax – DIRECTOR – 07.11

For its 30th edition, GIFF is delighted to welcome the extraordinary French director Leos Carax. From Boy Meets Girl (1984) to Les Amants du Pont Neuf (1991), his films have showcased a freewheeling, inventive cinema that has never ceased to renew itself, culminating in a César Award for Annette (2021) and his recent crowning achievement at Cannes. The Festival is thus privileged to present the director’s new work, It’s Not Me, a work somewhere between an introspective short and a cinematographic essay, presented at the last Cannes Film Festival. It will also be an opportunity to (re)discover his last two highly acclaimed features: Holy Motors (2012) and Annette (2021). Leos Carax will take part in a moderated conference that will lift a corner of the veil on his brilliant and teeming creative universe.

Full program here!

Tales of Swiss Innovation

SARAH KENDERDINE

Tales of Swiss Innovation – DIRECTOR AND CURATOR AT EPFL PaviLions AND HEAD OF Laboratory for Experimental Museology (eM+) AT l’EPFL – 06.11

On the occasion of its 30th edition, the GIFF celebrates the remarkable career of Professor Sarah Kenderdine. As the Director and Curator of the EPFL Pavilions and head of the Laboratory for Experimental Museology (eM+) at EPFL, Professor Sarah Kenderdine conducts cutting-edge research in immersive experiences for galleries, libraries, archives, and museums. Through installations exhibited worldwide, she merges cultural heritage with the practice of new media arts, particularly in the fields of interactive cinema, augmented reality, and embodied storytelling. As part of the Festival, Sarah Kenderdine presents a conference about the Future Cinema System as well as a selection of works related to these captivating themes.

Full program here!

La liste complète des Guests du GIFF 2021 sera annoncée dès le 26 octobre.

CompetitionS

• KOYA KAMURA – Hiver à Sokcho (director) – 08.11
• AGATHE RIEDINGER – Diamant Brut (director) – 09.11
• KONSTANTIN BOJANOV – The Shameless (director) – 03.11
• PATRICK MURONI – Rave (creator) – 06.11
• JOSÉPHINE DEROBE – moi fauve (creator) – 06.11
• FRANÇOIS VAUTIER – Champ de Bataille (creator) – 06.11
• SARAH TICHO – Soul Paint (creator) – 06.11
• NIKI SMIT – Soul Paint (creator) – 06.11
• NOÉMIE MERLANT – Les Femmes Au Balcon (director, actress) – 02.11
• AUDE LÉA RAPIN – Planète B (director) – 03.11
• SOUHEILA YACOUB – Planète B (actress) – 03.11
• MATTHEW NIEDERHAUSER – The Golden Key (creator, producer) – 06.11
• MARC DA COSTA – The Golden Key (creator) – 06.11
• DANIEL LAWRENCE TAYLOR – Boarders (creator) – 02.11

Highlights

• KIRILL SEREBRENNIKOV – Limonov: The Ballad (director) – 05.11
• PIERRE MONNARD – Winter Palace (director) – 02.11
• ALIX HENZELIN – Winter Palace (actress) – 02.11
• CYRIL METZGER – Winter Palace (actor) – 02.11
• ASTRID ROOS – Winter Palace (actress) – 02.11
• VINCENT HENEINE – Winter Palace (actor) – 02.11
• AXEL GRANBERGER – Winter Palace (actor) – 02.11
• LINDSAY SHAPERO – Winter Palace (creator, screenwriter) – 02.11
• MARION SCHRAMM – Winter Palace (production designer) – 02.11
• DAVID RIHS – Winter Palace (producer) – 02.11
• JULIEN GASPAR OLIVIERI – Ceux qui rougissent (creator, actor) – 05.11
• VALERIA GOLINO – L’Arte della Gioia (creator, director) – 02.11
• TECLA INSOLIA – L’Arte della Gioia (actress) – 02.11
• NIELS SCHNEIDER – Le monde n’existe pas (actor) – 05.11
• NICOLE COLLET – Le monde n’existe pas (producer) – 05.11
• BENJAMIN VOISIN – Jouer avec le feu (actor) – 06.11
• STEFAN CREPON – Jouer avec le feu (actor) – 06.11
• LOUIS GARREL – Saint-Ex (actor) – 08.11
• PABLO AGÜERO – Saint-Ex (director) – 08.11
• DOMENICO LA PORTA – Maldoror (screenwriter) – 08.11
• BJÖRN STEIN – Whiskey on the Rocks (director) – 09.11
• JAN MARNELL – Whiskey on the Rocks (producer) – 09.11
• SOPHIE TOTH – Tschugger Saison 4 (producer) – 08.11
• DAVID CONSTANTIN – Tschugger Saison 4 (creator, actor) – 08.11
• JOHANNES BACHMANN – Tschugger Saison 4 (screenwriter) – 08.11
• JELENA VUJOVIC – Tschugger Saison 4 (screenwriter) – 08.11
• TUNG-YEN CHOU – Free UR Head (creator) – 06.11
• YI-ZHEN CHEN – Free UR Head (producer) – 06.11

PULSATION

• MATHILDE SCHIBLER – Delusional Souvenir (creator)
• OCÉANE SERRAT – Delusional Souvenir (creator)
• THÉO DÉCHANEZ – VULCAN (creator)

POP TV

• PIERRE KORALNIK – POP TV – director, screenwriter – 04.11
• JACOB BERGER – Claude Torracinta, géant du petit écran (director) – 01.11

SWISS SERIES STORYTELLING AWARD

Delegations of the nominated Swiss series

• Abner Preis (créateur) – Blowing Through The Curtains
• Adèle Haenel (actrice) – Retour à Reims (Fragments)
• Arnaud Parel (créateur) – Teatro San Materno
• Basil Dénéreaz (créateur) – Run
• Bogdan Nastase (créateur) – Untitled
• Edric Douglas Stanley (créateur) – Inside Inside
• Elie Grappe (réalisateur) – Olga
• Elodie Anglade (créatrice) – Sonate Mécanique
• Firat Sezgin (producteur) – Blowing Through The Curtains
• Gaëlle Mourre (créatrice) – (Hi)story of a Painting
• Jamy Herrmann (créateur) – CAPTIVUS
• Jean Gabriel Periot (réalisateur) – Retour à Reims (Fragments)
• Jorge Reis (créateur) – Mind Box
• Julie Ryser (créatrice) – Run
• Leoni Limbach (créatrice) – Untitled
• Marine Dang (créatrice) – CAPTIVUS
• Mélanie Fontaine (créatrice) – Mind Box
• Mika Pica (créateur) – Ocytocine
• Nathanaël Vianin (créateur) – Heliotrip
• Nora Fatehi (créatrice) – Ocytocine
• Sébastien Galera (créateur) – Run
• Sina Dolati (créateur) – Säye Skye ADHD: The VR Experience
• Soraya Camina (créatrice) – Sonate Mécanique

Geneva Digital Market

• MARIANNE LEVY-LEBLOND – Directrice Unité Créations Numériques, ARTE, FR
• CAMILLE DUVELLEROY – Screenwriter and Director, FR
• ELISHA KARMITZ – CEO, Mk2, FR
• LAURA HARRISON – Executive Product Manager, BBC Research & Development, UK

Find the full list of GDM guests here!

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JURYS

Jury international feature competition

CARMEN JAQUIER

JURY PRESIDENT

Carmen Jaquier studied graphic design and self-taught filmmaking before joining the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne. Her graduation film, Le Tombeau des filles, won an award at Locarno in 2011. She also works in collectives (AAmen, Heimatland, Rome à la troisième heure de la nuit) and collaborates with other filmmakers as a cinematographer. Her first two films, Foudre and Les Paradis de Diane, have been selected and awarded at numerous festivals around the world, including Toronto, Berlin, and Marrakech.

Carmen Jaquier will be accompanied in this jury by four film students:

• Samuel Damiani Jimenez, Université de Lausanne (UNIL)
• Camille Briffod, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK)
• Vittoria Magnelli Tieppo, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI)
• Sherii Tykhoniuk, École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL)

Jury international Series Competition

This jury is composed of three festival-goers:

• Luca Palumbo
• Minh Luong
• Camille Dumond

JURY INTERNATIONAL IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE COMPETITION

Corine Meijers

As founder and creative producer at Studio Biarritz, Corine Meijers released numerous award-winning projects such as Symbiosis (multi-user, multi-sensory VR Installation) by Polymorf, premiered during IDFA Doclab at Eye Film Museum in 2021. I am a Bastard (linear TV doc) by Ahmet Polat, premiered at Movies that Matter festival in 2021; The Imaginary Friend (Interactive hybrid VR) by Steye Hallema, premiered at Venice Immersive 2023; Floating with Spirits (cinematic hybrid VR) by Juanita Onzaga, premiered at Venice Immersive 2023; Home (fiction, short) by Floortje Pols, premiere at Netherlands Film Festival in September 2024.

Christopher Lloyd Salter

Chris Salter is an artist, professor, director of the Immersive Arts Space at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and professor emeritus, Computation Arts, Concordia University in Montreal. His artistic work has been seen internationally at venues such as the Venice Architecture Biennale, Barbican Centre, Berliner Festspiele, Wiener Festwochen and Grand Palais Immersif, among many others. He is the author of Entangled (2010), Alien Agency (2015) and Sensing Machines (2022), all from the MIT Press.

Domenico La Porta

Former film critic Domenico La Porta is the editor-in-chief of Cineuropa.org. He is also a professor of narratology and a screenwriter for film (Largo Winch: The Price of Money, Maldoror), television (Terrorist Hunters, Harmony), video games (Outcast: A New Beginning, Gangs of Sherwood), comics (Luchadores Five, Pizza Nostra), and XR (Jailbirds, Muse). Recently, he has synthesized his cross-disciplinary experience in storytelling into a collection of screenwriting tools available at www.storytricks.cards.

JURY FUTURE IS SENSIBLE

Abir Oreibi

President of Le Temps Group and Lift, Abir Oreibi is a Swiss entrepreneur involved in media, innovation, startups and contemporary art. At the helm of Lift, a Swiss organization pioneering the promotion of open innovation, she oversees the creation of international events and programs designed to encourage innovation and explore its societal implications.

Alexis Juncosa

Born in France and of French nationality, Alexis Juncosa worked there as a journalist in the regional press before moving to Luxembourg in 2003 to become editor-in-chief of a cultural magazine. He joined the Luxembourg City Film Festival just a few months before its first edition in 2011 and has served as its Artistic Director ever since. In 2019, he co-founded the Europa Film Festival network (a Luxembourg-based non-profit association), of which he currently serves as President.

Joséphine Derobe