DocNomads alumni with films in Visions du Réel, Switzerland
Four alumni of DocNomads present their latest films in competition at Visions du Réel International Documentary Film Festival held from 12 to 21 of April: Magilligan by Ross McClean, Piercing Water by Fan Wu, Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest by Viv Li, A Distant Call by Andrea Suwito.
Directed by Ross McClean
73 min. | UK, Ireland, USA | 2026
World premiere
International Feature Film Competition
Between the all-too-familiar prison walls and his mother's house, Ryan grapples with himself, eventually finding an escape with the sheep in the verdant fields of Northern Ireland. Ross McClean (No Mean City, VdR 2025), whose great-grandfather was also a unionist, offers his protagonist a space for freedom, a friendly and graceful embrace, in which to escape determinism.
in Visions du Réel catalogue
TSZ SHUI
By Fan Wu
24 min. | Taiwan | 2026
World premiere
Int. Medium Length & Short Film Competition
On a small island, the indigenous Da’o people live in harmony with the Pacific. Their love for the sea prompts 19-year-old Vongnyan to enlist in the navy. Returning broken, he confides his traumas to the waves during bouts of insomnia. His younger brother, Bo, plays and lives in the water, completely carefree, yet he, too, will soon have to choose his future.
in Visions du Réel catalogue
Trailer here.
Directed by Viv Li
85 min. | Germany, Netherlands | 2026
International premiere
International Feature Film Competition
Viv, a thirty-something artist from Beijing, has recently become involved in the Berlin queer scene. Straddling Germany and China, where her family wonders if their daughter has gone mad, the filmmaker tries to understand the environment in which she is living and the one from which she hails. She then constructs a hilarious comedy about her identity, at the intersection of worlds that appear diametrically opposed.
in Visions du Réel catalogue
Directed by Andrea Suwito
99 min. | Indonesia, UK, France | 2026
European premiere
Highlights
The Bugis, the largest ethnic group in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, recognise five genders. The fifth is the “bissu”, who transcend distinctions between male and female and hold a special place in society and religion. For Eka, one of the last remaining, the time has come for the trip they have been waiting for all their life: the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
in Visions du Réel catalogue
Trailer here.