After its 4th edition in Berlin and its 1st in Mainz, Visionär will go back to Mainz from the 29th of October to the 1st of November 2020 with a selection of feature-length films and short films. CAPITOL&PALATIN will be the host.

The goal of this year’s Visionär Film Festival Mainz is to discover up-and-coming young filmmakers from Northern Europe and to promote an exchange between them and the audience. We are convinced that the directors we show can open up new perspectives and visions on our society and thus contribute to important social debates. The stories the filmmakers tell are as diverse as the different cultures of the Northern European countries: local and universal, empathic and abstract, analytical and stirring, daring and new. 

The selected films are chosen to represent, in an innovative cinematic way, the current state of the Northern European world. We support feature-length films that overcome the traditional classifications of genres and are bold enough to take a look at the present: a present which oscillates between realistic, fantastic and political realities. Through their subjective point of view, which can be read in the visual language and the stories told, they give insights into different cultures and realities of life. As ambassadors, they give contemporary insights into everyday life and bring other cultures closer to the audience by addressing contrasts and similarities. The medium of film is suited like no other to transport stories and emotions that everyone can understand. The pictures arouse feelings that speak a universal language. 

Countries in focus of this year’s edition are Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden. Visionär will offer a selection of first/second feature films, short films and the homage to a well established director.

• Homage to Roy Andersson: A Swedish Love Story

The festival always opens with a tribute to an internationally established director, who we honour with the screening of his/her debut film. This homage to the beginnings is intended to encourage young filmmakers to trust their talent and to critically confront the economic constraints of the film industry. The first feature-length films are always groundbreaking: often still inspired by their role models, they show the will to develop an unmistakable signature, which is reflected in both style and content. These films are often freer and more courageous than later films, which are often under enormous market pressure to succeed. 

This year Visionär in Mainz will honour Roy Andersson. He is best known for A Swedish Love Story (1970) and his “Living Trilogy”, which includes Songs from the Second Floor (2000), You, the Living (2007) and A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014). Songs from the Second Floor, more than any other, cemented and illustrated his personal style – which is characterized by long filming, absurd comedy, stiff caricature of Swedish culture and Fellini grotesque. Visionär will show his first feature film A Swedish Love Story, for which he also wrote the screenplay. The story about two teenagers from different social classes who experience their first love happens in the beautiful landscape of an idyllic Swedish summer. Under the tender gaze of Roy Andersson, Pär and Annika create their own world in which social differences, the adults’ dysfunctional relationships and their disillusionment are cut out. The debut film was selected in the Competition of the 20th Berlin International Film Festival which ended prematurely and without any award ceremony due to an internal scandal.

• Northern European films: 3 debut films by northern European directing talents

– Fire Lily (Tulililia) by Maria Avdjushko (Estonia)
– M by Anna Eriksson (Finland)
– Oleg by Juris Kursietis (Latvia)

• Short films: Panorama Nordic | Female* Voices 

After the experience of the last editions we decided to present a short film selection of a country or region. This is a curated section organized in collaboration with the representative institutions involved. Each time, this opens up the possibility of discovering a different place, with the aim of presenting to the public each year the new trends of a new country. The selection is made up of different formats, genres, styles and narrative structures to ensure a broad vision of filmmaking and celebrate its diversity. For the next edition in Mainz we are in contact with Svenska Filminstitutet, Kvikmyndamiðstöð Íslands (Icelandic Film Centre) and Lithuanian Film Centre to present a selection of their short films under the theme Female* Voices.

Short film selection:
– Match (Matchen) by Pia Andell, Finland, 2018, 15‘
– The Ambassador’s Wife by Theresa Traore Dahlberg, Sweden, 2018, 17‘
– Tweener (Brottas) by Julia Thelin, Sweden, 2018, 16‘
– XY by Anna Karín Lárusdóttir, Iceland, 2019, 16‘
– I (Ég) by Hallfríður Tryggvadóttir, Vala Ómarsdóttir, Iceland, 2018, 15‘
– Quartz (Kvarcas) by Odeta Riškutė, Klaudija Matvejevait, Lithuania, 2019, 5‘36‘‘