Visions du Réel Crowns ‘The Prince of Nanawa’ as Grand Prix Winner

Clarisa Navas’ “The Prince of Nanawa” claimed Swiss doc fest Visions du Réel’s top prize, while Iranian filmmaker Bani Koshnoudi’s “The Vanishing Point” took the top Burning Lights honor.

Clarisa Navas’ “The Prince of Nanawa” has taken home the Grand Prix at international Swiss doc fest Visions du Réel, while Bani Koshnoudi’s “The Vanishing Point” earned the top award in the Burning Lights section.

Argentina’s Navas, best known for her 2020 San Sebastián-winning film “One in a Thousand,” spent a decade filming “The Prince of Nanawa.” The documentary follows the story of Ángel, a charismatic boy with fierce love for his Guarani roots and a vision for his Paraguayan hometown of Nanawa. With a camera in hand, Ángel helps craft his own story.

The jury, comprising Japanese film festival director Hama Haruka, U.S. filmmaker Eliza Hittman (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” “Beach Rats”) and Greek director Athiná-Rachél Tsangári (“Attenberg,” “Chevalier,” “Harvest”), praised the film as “a work that straddles autofiction, fiction and non-fiction with confidence and humility… The camera becomes a communal, familial instrument that passionately records the microcosm of youth as it negotiates borders and boundaries. The filmmaker’s gaze is hospitable and tender – without ever sentimentalizing or othering their subject.”

The Grand Prix comes with a 20,000 CHF ($24,000) cash prize.

The Special Jury Award in the same section went to “To Use a Mountain” by Casey Carter, which investigates the six rural U.S. sites once considered for nuclear waste disposal. Marie Voignier’s “Anamocot,” which chronicles a French scientist’s lifelong search for the mythical Mokélé-Mbembé, received a Special Mention.

Koshnoudi, an exiled…