Multiple screenings, with seventy films divided into five competitions, but also theater (From silence to explosion by the company Le Passe-Muraille), debates (including one on the media treatment of the ecological emergency), a photographic exhibition (“Between wars and peace, thirty years of photographs by Goran Tomasevic”), workshops intended to introduce young people to the language of the image.
To celebrate its thirtieth anniversary with dignity, the International Festival of Major News Reporting and Social Documentary (Figra) is multiplying the avenues and thinking big. From the first edition, organized in November 1993 in Le Touquet, until this thirtieth meeting, from May 30 to June 4 in Douai, Figra has traveled, without leaving the Hauts-de-France region, which has always supported this ambitious event: Le Touquet, Lille, Saint-Omer, again Le Touquet, before settling since 2021 in Douai.
Georges Marque-Bouaret, founder and general delegate of the festival, today measures the progress made: “At the beginning, I was not aware of the importance that the festival would take over time. It has become what I wanted: a meeting place for great reporters, directors, documentary filmmakers who travel the planet in all directions, in search of truths to reveal to us, which are sometimes so difficult to reveal. Sharing with a curious, interested, surprising audience…”
“Land(s) of History” and “Otherwise Seen” sections
Figra’s primary mission: to be a witness to the reality of the world on the big screen. Thirty years after its beginnings, the conclusion is clear: “The world is no better than thirty years ago, it is more than ever essential to hear its echo”, notes Georges Marque-Bouaret. All the more reason to bring these realities to the general public through quality documentaries which, from the war in Ukraine to Afghanistan via Argentina, Palestine, Nepal, Guinea, the Republic of Congo, the ‘Ecuador or Ethiopia, tell the story of the world as close as possible.
Sixteen documentaries of more than forty minutes and fourteen others of less than forty minutes were selected in the International Competition category. Created in 2009 to honor documentary filmmakers who use world history archives, the Land(s) of History section presents thirteen films in competition.
For their more intimate look at the world through portraits, stories of disrupted lives, thirteen films are offered in the Otherwise Seen section which, from theater in the suburbs to emergency physicians via ecological commitment or harkis, casts a wide net.
Other categories are also scheduled, including Coup de Pouce, created in 2008, which allows selected directors to defend their project in public and in front of a professional jury; and, for the first time, the Prix des Collégiens du Nord: 4th graders from André-Streinger College in Douai will watch the fourteen films of less than forty minutes from the International Competition, for which they will nominate a winner.
Throughout this edition, a selection of award-winning films at Figra 2022 will be visible at the Majestic cinema in Douai, including the remarkable Wagner, Putin’s shadow army, by Alexandra Jousset and Ksenia Bolchakova.