Historical
Created in 1989 by Jean-François Leroy, Visa pour l'Image has become in just a few decades the largest international festival dedicated to photojournalism. Born from the desire to highlight the work of photojournalists, often unknown or underestimated, the festival has established itself as a space for freedom, testimony, and exchanges around major global current affairs: conflicts, humanitarian crises, the environment, society. Each year, it attracts photographers, publishers, journalists, NGOs, as well as a wide audience to Perpignan, with nearly 300,000 visitors.
Location and iconic places
Each year, the festival takes over the most remarkable heritage sites in Perpignan, offering a journey through the city and its history:
Couvent des Minimes (heart of the festival, hosts around fifteen exhibitions)
Campo Santo (open-air screening evenings)
Dominican Church
Palace of Les Corts
Hotel Pams
Congress Center
Gallieni Barracks
Old University
Archipelago Theater
Urban Planning Workshop
The Powder Magazine
Casa Xanxo
These sites, often closed to the public the rest of the year, become the setting for the greatest photographic reports.
Dates and schedule
The 36th edition will be held from August 31 to September 15, 2024 (the 37th has already been announced for August 30 to September 14, 2025).
Exhibitions : every day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., free entry throughout the city.
Screening evenings: from September 2 to 7, 2024 at 9:30 p.m. at Campo Santo (free admission), with a retrospective of the past year and the awards ceremony.
School week : from September 16 to 27, free reception by appointment for school groups.
Major events and spirit of the festival
Visa pour l'Image has established itself as a space for reflection and debate on world news, press freedom, and the power of the image. Each year, the festival awards the best reports with the prestigious Visa d'Or in various categories:
Visa d'Or News
Visa d'Or Magazine
Daily Press Golden Visa
Humanitarian Golden Visa
Golden Visa from the City of Perpignan Rémi Ochlik
Honorary Golden Visa
Visa d'Or for Digital Information franceinfo (9th edition in 2024, rewards innovation in information processing)17.
Other prizes and grants (Camille Lepage, Pierre & Alexandra Boulat, Yves Rocher Foundation, Carmignac photojournalism, etc.) encourage creativity and support young talent17.
Recent exhibitions and successes
Each edition offers more than 20 free exhibitions, presenting the best photojournalistic subjects of the year, selected from hundreds of applications from around the world. The themes are varied: armed conflicts, health crises, the environment, society, struggles for human rights, but also hope and positive initiatives.
Examples of notable exhibitions:
In 2024, the report "Sahara, the thirst for gold" by Amaury Hauchard and Michele Cattani (Les Jours) received the Visa d'Or for Digital Information franceinfo for its investigation into the gold rush in the Sahara1.
Exhibitions on the war in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic, global social movements and the climate crisis have marked recent editions, attracting large audiences and sparking debate and emotion513.
A festival open to all
Access is free for all exhibitions and screenings, and many of the exhibits are also available for virtual tours on the official website. Visa pour l'Image thus remains true to its mission: to defend press freedom, support photojournalists, and raise public awareness of the complexity of the contemporary world.
Visa pour l'Image in Perpignan offers a unique opportunity every year to dive into the heart of world news through the eyes of the greatest photographers, in a city transformed into the international capital of photojournalism.