What's on at Visa pour l'Image 2020: a year with a difference

The Visa pour l'Image international festival of photojournalism will return for the 32nd time this year – but in a different format. Social distancing measures mean that some exhibitions will take place as usual in Perpignan, France, from 29 August to 13 September 2020, while others, as well as talks, awards, portfolio reviews, screenings and presentations, will be held virtually.

Combining physical exhibitions in the medieval city of Perpignan with innovative virtual screenings and events will create an engaging experience and open up access to an even larger online community – not least because, for the first time, registration is free this year. Whether you're visiting in person, online, or both, you'll be able to celebrate the best in the industry. Professional Week, from 31 August to 5 September, will feature the usual packed programme of events – simply online.

2. Talks from industry leaders

As part of the Canon Student Development Programme – and also available to all registered attendees – there will be a series of lectures by renowned photojournalists. The first lecture on 2 September will be given by photographer and former Guggenheim Fellow Jason Eskenazi, on the subject of 'Revisiting the Americans' – a nod to Robert Frank’s work The Americans, which Jason formed a personal connection with during his time as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Further talks are planned by various Canon Ambassadors and big names such as legendary photojournalist Sebastião Salgado. Visa pour l'Image founder Jean-François Leroy will also deliver a talk, as will Gaia Tripoli of The New York Times, Thomas Borberg of Politiken, writer and curator Ekow Eshun, photographer, director and Curator of the Addis Photo Fest Aïda Muluneh, and many others.

Away from the Student Development Programme, a panel discussion will bring together leading voices to discuss the unique challenges faced by Black photojournalists, and the work being done to help overcome these difficulties.

3. 2020 Canon Female Photojournalist Grant

For the 20th consecutive year, Canon and Visa pour l'Image will be presenting the prestigious Canon Female Photojournalist Grant. The €8,000 grant is awarded to "an outstanding photographer in recognition of her contribution to photojournalism", in order to help her complete or make a new project for exhibition at the festival the following year.

The winner of this year's grant is Turkish photographer Sabiha Çimen for her project Hafiz: Guardians of the Qur'an. Muslims who completely memorise the Qur'an are allowed to use the title 'Hafız' before their names. Sabiha's project will highlight this 1,500-year-old tradition, focusing on the 8 to 17-year-old girls who attend the Qur'an schools to recite and memorise the 6,236 verses of the holy book of Islam so they can become Hafizas.

"l attended a Qur'an school with my twin sister when we were 12," says Sabiha. "With this project I am able to reveal a world unknown and hidden to many, and allow others to see Muslim women in a very unusual and nuanced way."

• Monica Allende, Curator and Artistic Director of Landskorna Photo Festival
• Zarina Bhimji, photographer and former Turner Prize nominee
• Lucy Conticello, Director of Photography at M magazine, Le Monde
• MaryAnne Golon, Director of Photography at The Washington Post
• Aïda Muluneh, photographer, director and Curator of the Addis Photo Fest and Canon Ambassador
• Claire-Anne Devillard, Marketing Director of Canon France
• Susie Donaldson, Marketing Director for ITCG at Canon Europe

4. Anush Babajanyan exhibition

This year's festival will include an exhibition of work by 2019 Canon Female Photojournalist Grant winner and member of the VII Photo Agency Anush Babajanyan. Her project, A Troubled Home, focused on large families in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in the South Caucasus where the government has encouraged the growth of the ethnic Armenian population. Anush began working in the region in 2016 when violence erupted during the Four Day War, and wanted to explore the reasons behind the area's growing families.

Anush's exhibition, the culmination of her work on the project over the last year, will take place at Couvent des Minimes in Perpignan and online.

5. 2020 Canon Video Grant winner

Visa pour l'Image 2020 is a year of many firsts, including the presentation of the inaugural Canon Video Grant. The recipient will get an €8,000 grant plus the loan of a Canon video camera and two cine lenses to make a short documentary of approximately eight minutes in length.

The winner of this year's Canon Video Grant is French-Swiss photographer and filmmaker Michaël Zumstein. The investigative journalist spends his time working on commissions for the French and international press, as well as on personal projects.

• Lucas Menget, News Deputy Director at FranceInfo
• Nyancho NwaNri, lens-based artist, freelance documentary photographer and Canon Miraisha educator
• Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson, Senior Editor, Special Projects and The Wider Image at Reuters
• Stéphane Arnaud, Global Photo Editor in Chief at AFP
• Olivier Sarbil, documentary director and Emmy-winning cinematographer
• Ema Edosio Deelen, filmmaker and director (BBC and Netflix Africa)
• Thomas Erdbrink, New York Times journalist and documentary filmmaker

6. Victor Moriyama exhibition

Amazon Deforestation, an exhibit by Brazilian documentary photographer Victor Moriyama, focuses on the environmental impact of the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. 2019 saw the highest loss in Brazilian rainforest in a decade. Victor spent two months documenting climate change and this sad episode in history on a special assignment for The New York Times.

Victor's exhibition will take place at Couvent des Minimes in Perpignan and online, easily accessed through the Canon Digital Lounge.

7. Axelle de Russé exhibition

French photojournalist and 2007 Canon Female Photojournalist Grant recipient Axelle de Russé is known for her work on long-term projects. Her exhibition at Visa pour l'Image 2020, On the Outside, focuses on the lives of women in France released from prison and struggling to fit back into society. The women are often abandoned by their families and stigmatised by the communities they return to. Rehabilitating back into life on the outside can be difficult and 60% of women are back in the prison system within five years of their release. The project centres on the struggles these women – who represent about 3.5% of the prison population in France 2019 – have to face.

Axelle's exhibition will take place at Couvent des Minimes in Perpignan and online.

8. Covid-19 Collective Exhibition

This collective work, called simply The Pandemic, will showcase images by photographers from all over the world who have documented the largest global pandemic of modern times and the biggest story of the year. The collective exhibition includes some of Fabio Bucciarelli's powerful and intimate images for The New York Times.

This exhibition will take place at Couvent des Minimes in Perpignan and online, easily accessed through the Canon Digital Lounge.

Find out more about Visa pour l'Image and read all the Canon-related stories on our Visa pour l'Image event page.