Interview - festival founder

A celebration of photojournalism and a meeting point, says director

Article published on the 2009-08-18 Latest update 2009-08-26 10:47 TU

The Campo Santo during the festival
(Photo: DR)

Interview conducted with Jean-François Leroy ahead of the 2008 Visa pour l'image.

This year's Visa pour l'image is the 21st annual exhibition in Perpignan. Founder and Director Jean-François Leroy says there wasn't anything like it when they began back in 1989. "We wanted to create a meeting point for the three links in the chain - photographers, agencies and buyers (magazines etc.)". He says the proof that the festival responded to a demand is the fact that it's still running, two decades later.

Photojournalism is a sector where people talk a lot, but it is always from a distance, according to Jean-François Leroy.

"It's a good idea to meet up in person once a year and to actually laugh, and not just write 'LOL' to someone," he says.

He says what distinguishes the festival is that it is driven by news. "We're the only photo festival, as far as I know, to have an editorial meeting in the morning and the evening so that we can show images in the evening of events that have taken place that very day."

"We're journalists before we're festival organisers. We're capable of pulling everything apart three hours ahead of the evening if something happens," he adds.

The festival no longer has to search for photographs. "I receive material from more than 4000 photographers a year. There's a lot of rubbish but from time to time there are marvellous things which pop up," he says.

Photographers recognise that Visa pour l'image is a place where their work will be seen by the biggest photo deciders in the world, says Leroy.

The southern French town of Perpignan is a strategic setting for the Visa festival since, as Leroy points out, it is the town's main festival and town life revolves around it. 

The locations are another plus. "The Minimes Convent is one of our biggest exhibition spaces," he says. "It's an old convent dating back to the 15th century. Then there's the fabulous setting of the Campo Santo, which is a former graveyard, at the end of the Cathedral Saint Jean in Perpignan where we do open-air projections".

For all the fanfare on the past 21 years of success, Leroy says that it is important to be modest. "A photo can influence things," he says, "but never change the world."