RSF marks 40th anniversary with “Informing Tomorrow’s World” festival in Paris
To mark 40 years of fighting for press freedom and the right to information, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is taking over the Gaîté Lyrique music centre in Paris on 15 November to host its “Informing Tomorrow’s World” festival, with a programme that includes conferences, a photo exhibition, a concert and the 2025 RSF Press Freedom Awards ceremony.
“This festival is our way of saying thank you – to all those who inform, question, doubt and tell stories. And above all, to you, curious public, engaged citizens, without whom press freedom would be nothing but words with no substance. Reporters Without Borders, but not without you!”
The Gaîté Lyrique centre will become a freedom of information forum for RSF’s 40th anniversary celebration in Paris on 15 November. Around the theme "Informing Tomorrow’s World," RSF will offer roundtables, screenings and interactive workshops that will allow the public to engage in dialogue with journalists, photographers, and filmmakers from around the world.
The discussions will address the major contemporary challenges facing journalism – disinformation, concentration of media ownership, the safety of reporters in the field, artificial intelligence and public trust in information.
Personalities such as investigative journalists Ariane Lavrilleu from Disclose and Fabrice Arfi from Mediapart, Bondy Blog editor Héléna Berkaoui, Vert co-founder and editor Loup Espargilière and videographer Gaspard G will share their experiences in the fight for responsible, courageous and independent journalism. RSF’s president, the journalist and essayist Pierre Haski, will also speak while the actress Aïssa Maïga will be present for the 2025 Press Freedom Awards ceremony.
With RSF’s international network
To celebrate this anniversary, RSF is bringing members of its global network together in Paris – staff from the RSF bureaux in Washington, Brussels, Tunis, Rio de Janeiro, London, Taipei, Dakar and Prague, RSF representatives from Turkey, Mexico and Pakistan, and members of the RSF sections in Germany, Spain, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Finland.
These meetings will embody the international dimension of RSF's work – a solidarity network without borders that never stops working to defend journalists under threat and promote freedom of information on every continent. This moment of sharing and collective reflection aims to foster the shared goal of jointly visualising the tools and strategies for informing the world of tomorrow.
Photographing tomorrow’s world
RSF will present its exhibition “Photographing Tomorrow’s World” in Paris during the festival. A celebration of committed photojournalism, it pays tribute to those who sometimes put their lives in danger to bear witness to reality. The photographs of Paula Bronstein, Samar Abu Elouf, Katie Orlinsky, Kiana Hayeri, Steve McCurry, Paolo Pellegrin and the late Sebastião Salgado invite reflection on the fissures in the contemporary world – conflicts, migration, climate justice and the resilience of peoples.
After an international tour – from Bern to Bogotá, via Arles, Brussels and New York – the exhibition will be displayed on the railings in front of the Gaîté Lyrique during the RSF Festival on 15 November and on the railings of the Saint-Jacques Tower until 8 December.
Anniversary photobook with Studio Ghibli
To celebrate its 40th anniversary with some poetry, RSF is publishing an anniversary photobook in collaboration with Studio Ghibli, which was also created 40 years ago. This exceptional book brings together the worlds of drawing and reportage, allowing iconic images from photojournalists to interact with the imaginary characters of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. A meeting between dream and reality, a tribute to the beauty of the world and to those who tell its stories.
