The reevaluation of the relationship between the world and the image by asking real questions in the socio-political and theoretical fields was the aim of a group of university researchers who shared a radical vision in the States toward the end of the 80s. Since 1993 this informal yet determined group has held an annual conference called Visible Evidence, a conference that has aimed to question and examine documentary film and media, and their validity in terms of the representation of social realities.

Over the years the word has spread, bringing together researchers from around the world over, and the annual gathering has now reached other continents. After Utrecht in 2000, Brisbane in 2001, it is now the turn of Marseille, in 2002, to hold the 10th annual Visible Evidence conference. This 10th anniversary will take place in a Southern European city that is both a source of cinematic inspiration for fiction and non-fiction alike, and rich in initiatives and research programmes in the documentary film domain.

The LESI (Laboratoire d’Etudes en Sémiologie de l’Image/The Laboratory of Studies into the Semiology of the image), at the heart of the University of Provence is leading in its fundamental and applied research, in particular into the moving image. For these innovating programmes, the LESI regularly works in conjunction with the Cinéma en Lumière, a structure that specializes in aiding new documentary authors. These two structures have, quite logically, got together to host Visible Evidence X. It is naturally a wonderful occasion to unite researchers from all over the world to discuss the question of the world and the image in all its aspects: reality and truth, memory and science, identities and frontiers, new forms of representation.

Quite apart from the researchers, we would be happy to welcome those persons interested in the themes of the conference: students, directors, producers, broadcasters, those working in training and education, actors and enthusiastic spectators, in short, those who have made Marseille the cultural city, open to creativity and the documentary spirit, that it is. There lies the essence of the Visible Evidence evenings, during which authors will present their work to the public.