In 2025, 9,500 festivalgoers attended the event. Gilles Van Kote, the festival director, emphasized the importance of balanced programming during a visit to Couthures in early April. Prior to this, the organizers had announced the seven themes that would structure the three days of the event. The first theme discussed was “Partying, what’s the point?” during the review.
In the theme “Restricted Zones for Journalists, Informing Despite Everything,” the challenges faced by local and international journalists when access to the field is denied will be highlighted. The discussion will focus on the threats to investigative journalism and the pressure on reporters to reveal information of public interest, such as water contaminated with microplastics.
Another theme to be covered is “AI, ally or enemy of information?” Since the arrival of ChatGPT in 2022, artificial intelligence has been managing misinformation and videos, altering our relationship with information. The topic of immigration, which divides society, will also be addressed, as well as the question of whether we can still believe in ecological transition as discouragement grows.
Returning after nine years, the theme “Feminism, Equality, #MeToo: Time for a Backlash?” will explore the rise of anti-feminism and the men’s rights movement in the Western world, reflecting a growing weariness towards gender equality. Are some battles ultimately counterproductive? The debates will be led by journalists from “Le Monde,” “Nouvel Obs,” “Télérama,” and independent journalists.
In addition to these serious discussions, a play titled “Unruly Woman” about the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, assassinated twenty years ago, will be performed. The Saturday evening will be dedicated to the festival’s 10th anniversary, hosted by Charline Vanhoenacker, returning from her appearance in 2022. The journalist Ariane Chemin will also present a documentary she made with a filmmaker about the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. Nearly 10,000 people are expected to attend this year’s event on the banks of the Garonne River.
