THE FILM IS A DREAM TO EXPLORE
Dreaming is innate to humanity. We dream at night and we daydream during the day. This activity allows us to escape our mundane daily existence, liberate ourselves from various constraints, provide us with pleasure, and propel us into the future where we create our enchanted world. Dreaming is a mysterious and powerful force that pushes us forward, to take irrational risks and achieve extraordinary things.
In recent years, disheartened by the harshness of life, many people have stopped dreaming. In an effort to imbue poetry, color life with fantasy, and infuse a hint of escape into the monotonous everyday, the FIFOG (Festival International de Films de Genève) has decided to make its 18th edition, taking place from June 12th to 18th, 2023 at the Grütli Cinemas, a celebration of Dreams.
Cinema has always been a mirror of its creators’ incredible abstract constructions. The role of the filmmaker is to give shape to their boundless imagination or that of others, to create a better world and to expose nightmares or resist injustices. This purpose aligns well with that of Eastern artists who often suffer under the oppressive weight of suffocating and totalitarian systems. Their works are a form of resistance, allowing them to continue living joyfully. As the writer Yasmina Khadra once said, “when the vice tightens on them, they always have their imagination to reinvent the world that was taken from them.” This method is effective as, according to Grégoire Lacroix, “one cannot imprison a dream, even if it is mad.”
The FIFOG will showcase a diverse array of these creations, sometimes fantastical, sometimes nightmarish, through sixty films and just as many guests in June 2023, promising discoveries, discussions, escape, understanding, and a convivial sharing experience. A dream not to be missed!
Tahar Houchi, Artistic Director
