![[Clockwise from top left]: 'The Voice Of Hind Rajab', 'A House Of Dynamite', 'Jay Kelly', 'After The Hunt', 'The Smashing Machine'](https://d1nslcd7m2225b.cloudfront.net/Pictures/274x183/1/7/0/1459170_veniceawards_837515.jpg)
Stephane Demoustier’s Paris-set architecture drama The Great Arch will open the Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF) on October 31 and Kent Jones’s sophomore feature Late Fame will close the Swiss event on November 9.
Eighty-five works int the form of 36 films, 25 series and 24 immersive experiences will screen across the festival and its four competition sections: international feature, international series, international immersive and the future is sensible competition. The latter section featuring projects from all three formats.
There will be in- conversation events with US TV writer Alan Ball, who won a best original screenplay Oscar for American Beauty and created TV shows including Six Feet Under, True Blood and Banshee, and veteran UK filmmaker Stephen Frears, a twice Oscar-nominated director – for The Grifters and The Queen – who made his feature directing debut in 1971 with Gumshoe.
Ball’s American Beauty and Uncle Frank will screen as part of the festival line-up while audiences will be given the opportunity to see several Frears’ films including Dangerous Liaisons and My Beautiful Launderette.
Nathalie Nath, one of French-speaking Switzerland’s leading media and cultural figures, will deliver a keynote speech, there will be a territory focus on the Netherlands and a celebration of the work of French-Canadian filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée.
“Creative audacity”
The parallel Geneva Digital Market (GDM) will take place from November 3-6 at GIFF’s main venue Théâtre Pitoëff for a second year, after its move from the Radio Télévision Suisse’s studios, following positive notices from last year’s attendees who enjoyed being in the heart of the festival action.
Focused on audiovisual innovation, this year’s GDM will feature a signature mix of masterclasses, discussions and networking opportunities.
One anticipated event will examine the potential for XR creations to move from virtual reality headsets to more traditional screens to become high-impact films or series.
“There are more and more immersive productions based on IPs in France, Japan, other countries,” GIFF artistic director Anais Emery told Screen. “Now original XR and VR projects are being used as inspiration and a source for fresh IPs to develop into films and TV series.”
Speakers will include Eloise Singer, the Emmy-nominated, multi-award-winning producer, writer and director and founder of Singer Studios, who created and directed The Pirate Queen (2024) starring Lucy Liu, Trailblazer (2025) with Daisy Ridley and also executive produced Rare Beasts and The Last Rifleman
She will be joined by the UK’s Liz Rosenthal, curator of Venice Immersive and Venice Immersive Market, and Virginie Béjot, commissioning editor at Arte interactive, to mull challenges and opportunities.
“You can feel that the worlds of XR, VR and film and TV are getting closer and closer,” said Emery. “There are opportunities for creatives arising.”
Spearheaded by GDM head of industry Mathieu Gayet, who returns for his third year at the helm, further GDM events include a dive into 20 years of YouTube evolution and its effect on emerging platforms and content creation, key issues stemming from AI and intellectual property and fiction in the age of user generated content from studios to smart phones.
“All our choices in all forms for this year’s GIFF and GDM contain our DNA in them,” Emery says. “We want to provide a space that celebrates the plurality of voices, encourages creative audacity, fosters encounters, and opens up unexpected paths to discovery. This mission may seem obvious, but behind the scenes, it becomes more demanding every year as global and societal issues become more complex.”
No comments yet