Still: Imagine Me Like a Country of Love - Thana Faroq

Two Dutch co-productions are featured in the International Feature Film Competition. Death in the Making* by Piotr Pawlus is co-produced by Vines Films. It is joined by Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest* by Viv Li, a co-production with 100% Docs and with international sales handled by Mediawan. The film follows a young Chinese aspiring artist navigating between Berlin’s alternative scene and her family in Beijing, exploring identity in a globalised yet divided world. The project was previously selected for the Berlinale.

The Burning Lights Competition highlights works that probe and challenge the language, narrative structures, and aesthetics of contemporary cinema who dare to blur boundaries between genres, formats, or techniques, and who break free from established frameworks. Club Heaven** by Jona Honer is selected. Produced by Submarine, the film immerses viewers in a single night of excess at an EDM temple in the global megacity of Chengdu, China.

Opening Scenes is a section dedicated to the next generation of international creative non-fiction filmmakers. In the section, Imagine Me Like a Country of Love by Thana Faroq has been selected. The film moves between Yemen and the Netherlands, tracing what happens when long-held memories begin to shift. The film had its world premiere earlier this year at IFFR.

Also part of this section is Welcome to Set by Cyan Bae, an experimental short co-produced by Pingping Productions. The film reenacts scientific processes used to train AI systems in emotion recognition, and previously premiered at IFFR.

Co-production As Far as We Imagine by Raouf Moussa completes the Dutch presence in Opening Scenes.

Finally, in the Wide Angle section, Whispers in May* by Dongnan Chen is included. The film is a Dutch co-production involving Jia Zhao / MF Film Production, and was previously selected for CPH:DOX.

Find out more about Visions du Réel here.

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*Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund
**Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and Production Incentive