Kelly Reichardt to Be Honored at Visions du Réel as ‘The Mastermind’ Screens

Swiss film festival Visions du Réel will pay tribute to the work of U.S. filmmaker Kelly Reichardt at its 57th edition, which runs April 17-26.

Reichardt, who will be a “guest of honor” at the festival, will hold a masterclass and present a retrospective of her work. Her latest feature film, “The Mastermind,” will also be screened.

VdR chief Emilie Bujès said: “Film after film, Kelly Reichardt sketches fragments of history and lives in remarkably refined and elegant narratives which, through their rejection of the spectacular and their sensitive attention to detail, reveal a fascinating relationship with reality.”

Reichardt has shot nine feature films – including “Meek’s Cutoff,” “First Cow” and “Certain Women” – and several short films over a 30-year career. A focus on those left behind by the American Dream is the common thread in her work.

The festival commented: “While rooted in fiction, Reichardt’s oeuvre nevertheless flirts with ‘cinema of the real’ in many respects: a certain antisensationalism, economical production, a certain narrative and formal restraint, the considerable time devoted to location scouting, the adaptation of the script to the filming contexts, and the immersion of her teams in the living conditions of the places filmed, form the very foundations of a unique and distinctive method and cinematic approach.

“Through her attention to everyday gestures, places and marginalities, the filmmaker transforms fiction into a sensitive and ethical tool for observing the world.”

The tribute is part of a collaboration with the Cinémathèque Suisse and the ECAL University of Art and Design Lausanne film department, as well as a collaboration that began several years ago with the Fondazione Prada.

The full program for the 57th edition of Visions du Réel will be released on March 25.