Visions du Réel
Visions du Réel (Visions of Reality) is an internationally renowned documentary film festival held in April each year in Nyon, Switzerland.  Established in 1969 as the Nyon International Documentary Film Festival, the event adopted its current name in 1995 and is the largest Swiss documentary festival.
== Profile ==
At its inception, the festival promoted Swiss films and films that were otherwise inaccessible — that is, those created in the Eastern Bloc countries behind the Iron Curtain.  Now open to worldwide entries, the week-long festival has been directed by film critic Jean Perret since 1995.
The festival was founded by Moritz de Hadeln (who later headed the Locarno International Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, the Venice International Film Festival and the short-lived New Montreal FilmFest of 2005) and his wife  Erika de Hadeln:Our motivations at that time were strictly political. We believed in documentary, we all had the same idea that documentary could change the society which we live in. It was not the time television was controlling everything...
Moritz de Hadeln directed the festival until 1979, and he assisted Erika when she took over as head of the festival from 1980 to 1993.
During the early years of the Nyon International Documentary Film Festival,  Erika de Hadeln negotiated with the film authorities in East Europe and Russia — and worked with documentary filmmakers including Joris Ivens, Roman Karmen, Georges Rouquier, Basil Wright,  and Henri Storck. The event served as a template for film festivals that followed, including those in Amsterdam and Munich.
Each year, the festival invites and pays tribute to a guest of honor who has made significant contributions in the field of documentary and/or fiction films. The honoree is awarded the prestigious Honorary Award (previously the “Prix Maître du Réel”). Past recipients include Claire Denis, Werner Herzog, Claire Simon, Peter Greenaway, Alain Cavalier, Barbet Schroeder, and Richard Dindo.
Visions du Réel is part of the Doc Alliance – a creative partnership between seven European documentary film festivals.
== Sections ==
International Feature Film Competition;
Burning Lights International Competition;
National Competition;
International Medium Length and Short Film Competition;
Opening Scenes;
Grand Angle;
Latitudes;
VdR-Industry.
== Awards ==
International Feature Film Competition
Sesterce d’or — Best feature film
Jury Prize — Most innovative feature film
Special Mention
Interreligious Award
Burning Lights International Competition
Sesterce d’or — Best medium length or feature film
Jury Prize — Most innovative medium length or feature film
Special Mention
National Competition
Sesterce d’or — Best medium length or feature film
Jury Prize — Most innovative feature film
Special Mention
International Medium Length & Short Film Competition
Sesterce d’or — Best medium length film
Jury Prize — Most innovative medium length film
Special Mention
Sesterce d’argent — Best short film
Youth Jury Prize — Most innovative short film
Grand Angle
Sesterce d’argent Prix du Public — Best feature film
VdR Industry
VdR-Pitching Award
VdR-Work in Progress
Opening Scenes
TËNK Post-production Award
HEAD–Genève Postproduction Award
DAE Encouragement Award
DOK Leipzig Award
Unifrance Doc Award
== Festival team ==
=== Presidents ===
1969–1973: Bernard Glasson
1974–1981: Maurice Ruey
1982: Denys Gilliéron
1983–1991: Armand Forel
1992–1997: Gaston Nicole
1998–2001: Jérôme Bontron
2002–2003: Peter Tschopp
2004–2009: Jean Schmutz
2009–2019: Claude Ruey
since 2019: Raymond Loretan
=== Directors ===
1969–1979: Moritz de Hadeln
1980–1994: Erika de Hadeln
1994–2010: Jean Perret
2010–2017: Luciano Barisone
since 2018: Emilie Bujès

== External links ==
Official website  (in French, German and English)