Like a true trench of resistance in defense of on-the-ground, independent, and rigorous journalism. This is how the 38th edition of the Visa pour l'Image festival in Perpignan presents itself, taking place from August 29 to September 13. In the presentation manifesto, the director and founder of the exhibition, Jean-François Leroy, warns about "the growing precariousness of the sector, the concentration of media outlets, and the political pressures that threaten press freedom." Leroy also points out the disinformation generated by artificial intelligence (AI) and gives as an example the viral fake image of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro handcuffed and escorted by twomarines north Americans. Faced with this, he raises the paradox that AI inexorably needs the rigor of photojournalists to feed on real data and questions whether the agreements between big tech companies and historical publications represent a financial solution or a "deal with the devil".

"For a long time, the main criticism of the festival was that it was too dark, too violent, too pessimistic. Unfortunately, we were ahead of our time." With this phrase, Jean-François Leroy, director of Visa pour l'Image, heads this year's festival program. "If you watch television and read the newspapers, you'll see that the world is dark. Our goal is to show the real world. Not princesses, not soccer players: the real world," he tells ARA.