Safe Spaces – Films – Visions du Réel

Sarah Horst
Switzerland | 2026 | 104 min
World premiere
Languages : English, Spanish, Swiss German
Subtitles : English, French

Safe Spaces explores the intimate lives of three women trying to reconnect with their bodies, from which they have been distanced against their will. They welcome the camera’s gaze as they rediscover themselves and, through sensual experiments, explore sensations, including pain, in order to find themselves and meet the other.

Alexandra, Patricia and Shadow have lost touch with their bodies. The first is paraplegic, the second has endured the trauma of an incestuous family environment and the third is simply unable to feel any physical sensations. Through experimentation with pain – both suffered and inflicted – they strive to define a space in which to explore unprecedented and limitless bodily perceptions. Sexuality without penetration, whether in couples or groups, where ropes, hot wax, whips or simply caresses offset the phallocentric notion of intercourse, expanding it into a tantric and choreographic dimension. Sarah Horst’s explorations with her camera, as it weaves among these awakened bodies, construct nothing short than a cinema of touch.

Raphaëlle Pireyre

Safe Spaces, 2026
Propädeutik, 2016
Familiensache, 2010
Missio Canonica, 2008
Oifn Weg, 2007
Bon appétit, 2006

Screenings and tickets

Saturday 18 April 2026 20:30

Capitole Leone, Nyon

In the presence of the director

Monday 20 April 2026 13:45

Usine à Gaz 2, Nyon

Trailer

Themed walks

Filmmakers or researchers from UNIL will take you on a walk through the streets of Nyon to delve into and deepen your appreciation of this film’s subject. Balade avec Sarah Horst, réalisatrice de Safe Spaces