Work-in-Progress Projects at Visions du Réel

The latest edition of Visions du Réel’s highly selective Work in Progress showcase, spotlighting six bold international documentaries in late-stage production, will be pitched Tuesday at the Swiss festival’s industry platform.

Spanning themes of state violence, queer identity, collective memory, resilience and resistance – from war-torn Chechnya and besieged Gaza to Brazil’s anti-femicide patrol and Mexico’s underground queer rodeo scene – the lineup offers striking, character-driven portraits in a world in flux.

The selection includes both established filmmakers, such as Hassen Ferhani (“143 Sahara Street,” “Roundabout in My Head”), returning to VdR alongside his producer Eugénie Michel Villette (“Six Pieds Sous Terre”), as well as promising newcomers bringing their debut features to the festival.

All six projects are international co-productions, backed by major players including ARTE, CNC, the Sundance Documentary Fund and IDFA’s Bertha Fund.

Variety spoke with the filmmaking teams ahead of the pitch.

“Alea Jacarandas” (France, Algeria) by Hassen Ferhani (“Roundabout in My Head,” “143, Sahara Street”) is a poetic, deeply personal portrait of Algiers, reframed by the sudden loss of the director’s father. Initially conceived as a love letter to the city, the film shifts after his father’s passing as Ferhani sees Algiers through his own lens, enriched by what he learnt from his father’s gaze.

“The film becomes a dialogue between past and present, between literature and cinema, between a father writing and a son filming. While accepting his absence, I come to better understand his lucid passion for Algiers, his quiet resistance to darkness. I ultimately find my own place in the story,” Ferhani tells Variety.

“Alea Jacarandas” is produced by Eugénie Michel Villette at Les Films du Bilboquet and Oualid Baha at Tact Production. Backers include ARTE, the CNC, the Institut Français in Algiers, Algeria’s national film fund FDATIC, Creative Europe Media, France’s Centre National des Arts Plastiques, French sales company Andana and Météores Distribution. Returning to Visions du Réel, where his work has previously been honored, Ferhani is seeking additional funding and festival partners.

“Emergency Measures” (Brazil) by André Bomfim explores the work of the Maria da Penha Patrol in Alagoas, Brazil – a pioneering police unit named after a landmark anti-domestic violence law. The Patrol’s humanized, community-driven approach offers vital support to women at risk in one of the world’s most dangerous countries for gender-based violence. Through the experiences of four officers, the documentary examines the unit’s successes and its growing internal struggles in the face of mounting challenges.

“The police are a microcosm of society, that’s why it is political,” Bomfim says. “You’re fighting the same misogyny, sexism, prejudice and resistance to gender justice that exist everywhere. I wanted to shift focus from perpetrators to victims, and build real relationships with the police officers.”

Produced by Gustavo Rosa de Moura of Mira Filmes and Alessandra Orofino of Peri Productions, “Emergency Measures” is backed by Brazilian state grants and follows Bomfim’s debut “I’m Still Alive.” The team is seeking international sales at VdR.

“In Cod We Trust” (Norway, Finland) by Guro Saniola Bjerk is an intimate and wryly humorous portrait of Båtsfjord, one of the northernmost fishing villages in the world, where cod trumps God and the coldest landscapes are home to the warmest people. Filmed over the course of four years, this observational documentary captures the town’s eccentric and diverse inhabitants, exploring themes of home, identity, and resilience, in an isolated village, bound together by fish and nature.

Bjerk, who grew up and lives in Båtsfjord, said she had always dreamt of making a film that would make people laugh but hadn’t imagined it would be in her hometown. “People will be surprised by how much they recognize their own hopes and desires in one of the world’s northernmost villages. It’s a hilarious film, and the more you get to know the characters, the funnier it gets.”

“In Cod We Trust” is produced by Benedikte Bredesen of f(x) produksjoner and co-produced by Pasi Hakkio of Wacky Tie Films, which is also bringing “Ultras” to VdR. The film has secured TV deals in Finland, Iceland and Sweden, and theatrical distribution in Norway. It seeks additional sales, feedback and festival partners for a fall 2025 release.

“Memory” (Russia, France, Netherlands) by Vladlena Sandu is a poetic, autobiographical hybrid revisiting her traumatic childhood memories in war-torn Chechnya. After fleeing Chechnya in 1998, Sandu lived in exile in Russia, where, as she recounts, the Chechen genocide was silenced and propaganda painted her people as terrorists.

“It was important for me to share the historical facts as I saw and felt them, to document them, and make them accessible to a wider audience. History should be written by witnesses,” she says, revealing she had to submit a fake script to shoot in Grozny. “Even during production, very few people on the crew know the real story.”

“Memory” is produced by Yanna Buryak of Mimesis, and co-produced by Ludovic Henry of Limitless and Raymond van der Kaaij of Revolver. The film has the backing of CNC’s Aide Aux Cinémas Du Monde, the Netherlands Film Fund, Région Île de France and IDFA’s Bertha Fund. At VdR, the team is seeking sales, broadcasters and impact-driven partners for a 2025 release.

“Jaripeo” (France, Mexico) is Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig’s debut film about the hidden queer subculture within Mexico’s hyper-masculine Mexican rodeo tradition. Set during the Christmas Jaripeo season, it follows rancheros Noé and Joseph as they grapple with machismo, identity and forbidden desire. Narrated by Mojica, the film features re-enactments with red strobe lights and grainy music, offering “an intimate, layered exploration of identity in a space where queerness remains unspoken but ever-present.”

“We’re showing how openness and homophobia can coexist. There are overlapping contradictions, just like in life. It’s a documentary about desire, in all its complexities and idiosyncrasies,” Zweig says.

Co-director Mojica adds: “When I tell people I’m making a film about gay cowboys, they say, ‘Queer cowboys don’t exist.’ But, of course, they do. This film is about rejecting our internalized homophobia and seeing ourselves on screen.”

“Jaripeo” is produced by Sarah Strunin of Jaripeo Documentary, Carine Chichkowsky of Survivance, Gerardo Guerra and Juan Pablo González of Tierra Roja, with support from ITVS, Arte, the Sundance Documentary Fund, Chicken & Egg Films and SF Film. The team is seeking creative input, additional funding, sales and a festival launch for 2026.

“Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk” (France, Palestine, Iran) by Sepideh Farsi (“7 Veils,” “The Siren”), is a vital, urgent work, born of necessity. Unable to enter Gaza, the filmmaker turns to Fatem, a young photographer in the north of the territory, to document life under siege.

“What I really tried to capture in the narrative arc is not just news – but, above all, an emotional journey: an understanding of how you survive as a young woman and a photographer in the ongoing war in Palestine,” says Farsi, who was arrested and imprisoned in her native Iran and now lives in Europe. “I’ve been in that situation myself – not under bombs, of course – but I relate to that state of being, of trying to stay creative as a woman in a country at war. It’s about resisting, pushing forward, and continuing to produce images.”

Produced by Javad Djavahery of Rêves d’Eau Productions and co-produced by Annie Ohayon Dekel of 24images Production, the film is seeking additional funding, post-production partners and international sales.

The projects are being pitched in Nyon on April 8. VdR-Industry runs until April 9.