Current events oblige, it is difficult for Visa pour l’image to ignore the issue of the ongoing war in Gaza. The festival jury awarded three Palestinian photojournalists three of its most prestigious prizes on Saturday, September 7. The subject, which has never been so sensitive, has sparked controversy since the opening of this 36th edition.
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From our special correspondent in Perpignan,
This was a bit of a big question at this 36th Visa pour l’image festival: would Visa d’Or winner Rémi Ochlik be present in Perpignan to receive his prize? In the midst of a war between the Palestinian movement Hamas and Israel, the presence of the Gazan Loay Ayyoubwho documented the conflict in the enclave for five months for the Washington Post, was obviously not self-evident.
The suspense ultimately did not last very long. Having taken refuge in Egypt, the young 29-year-old photojournalist did indeed receive his visa allowing him to enter France. But he had not yet obtained his Egyptian resident papers and was therefore afraid of not being able to return to Cairo, while a large part of his family was still stuck in Gaza. He ultimately decided not to make the trip.
The Louis Aliot controversy
In any case, the mayor of Perpignan, Louis Aliot, from the far-right RN party, did not even wait for the photographer’s decision to be made official to comment and sharply criticize the festival that his city has hosted for 35 years. During the official opening of Visa pour l’image on August 31, the far-right mayor announced that he would not ” would not give the prize this year, neither me nor anyone from the city “, the elected official considering himself ” uncomfortable with the treatment of this war “, going so far as to question the integrity of Loay Ayyoub by assuring that he would have preferred that the Visa d’Or Rémi Ochlik of the city of Perpignan reward “ a journalist completely independent of Hamas “.
In the newspaper columns Releasethe president and founder of the festival Jean-François Leroy regretted the decision of the mayor of Perpignan. This is just a matter of protocol that I don’t really care about, since the city has promised to give the winner the sum of 8 000 euros, which corresponds to the reward “, he further qualified.
An explosive subject
The episode shows once again how explosive the subject is. This is the first time in 36 editions of Visa pour l’image that there is such antagonism between people. There is no longer any possible dialogue, deplored Jean-François Leroy on RFI. As soon as we say something, we are either in one camp or we are in the other and we try to remain factual. We have never had such knee-jerk reactions as on the Israel-Hamas war. »
But since the Visas d’Or honor reports retracing the most significant events from September 2023 to August 2024, it would have been unimaginable for the Israeli-Palestinian question not to be on the program of this 36th edition of the festival. In addition, ” The tragedy of Gaza “, a second exhibition entitled ” West Bank » by photographer Sergey Pomonarev addresses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at this festival.
The demonstration therefore did everything possible to be, according to Leroy, “ the most neutral, the most factual possible ” in his approach. This was particularly the case during a screening on Thursday evening, September 5, of the work of photojournalists throughout the area since October 7, accompanied by a commentary of which each word was ” weighed on the trebuchet “.
Three Palestinian photographers for the three most prestigious awards
From a professional point of view, the sequence opened on the day of the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 was in any case extraordinary. It should be noted, because it is quite rare, that it is a territory that is completely sealed off, completely closed to the international press, so we only work with Gazan photographers who are very few in number. “, stressed Jean-François Leroy.
Much to Louis Aliot’s displeasure, another Gazan photographer, Samar Abou Elouf, was awarded the Visa d’Or by the daily press Göksin Sipahioglu by Sipa Press. This was for her photos of Gaza published in the New York Times. Saturday, September 7 in the evening, while Olivier Laurent of Washington Post received the Loay Ayyoub Prize in his absence, the festival jury revealed the name of the winner of the Visa d’Or News. Once again, it was a Gazan photographer working for AFP, Mahmud Hams, who was awarded for his work in the enclave. Between them, Loay Ayyoub, Samar Abou Elouf and Mahmud Hams have thus scooped three of the most prestigious prizes awarded by Visa for the image.
A dedicated prize “ to all journalists killed in Gaza »
Despite the sensitivity of the subject, it is therefore impossible for the festival to ignore this closed-door war that has divided the world since it began on October 7. No one should see a political message in this, warned the president of the Visa pour l’image association Pierre Conte when announcing the name of the winner of the Visa d’Or News. On the other hand, I believe that we must see this as a moment when the entire profession of photojournalism salutes and encourages the only journalists who are currently working in Gaza. ” he insisted.
The day before, from Egypt, Loay Ayyoub had finally been able to exchange with other colleagues via screens during a videoconference organized by the National Union of Journalists CGT at the Bourse du Travail in Perpignan. The Palestinian photojournalist expressed his pride in receiving such an award, recalling that he and his colleagues in Gaza were regularly targeted.
” I saw colleagues with vests “Press” get killed by the israeli army. It is absolutely necessary for international journalists to come to the scene. To document this war first, but also because it would perhaps protect us a little more from the army, in my opinion. ” The photographer concluded by dedicating his prize to ” to all journalists killed in Gaza in the line of duty “.
End of June 2024, according to figures revealed by the Forbidden Stories collective, At least 108 journalists have lost their lives in Gaza since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.