Established in 1970, the Rencontres d’Arles have earned an international reputation by offering an annual appraisal of contemporary photographic creation. Each year, during the Festival, approximately forty exhibitions are presented in a unique setting at some twenty historical sites in and around the city of Arles.

For the 2018 edition, the Rencontres d’Arles are giving free rein to the Paris Opera which in its own way is exploring new relationships with images through its digital platform the 3e Scène. Three artists from the 3e Scène have been invited to air their films continuously during the exhibition, which will run from July 2 through August 26, 2018 at the Eglise Saint-Blaise.

• Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, recipient of the Palme d’Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival for his film Oncle Boonmee, will offer a world pre-premiere presentation of his new work Blue which was shot over 11 nights in the heart of the Thai jungle.
  
  
• Clément Cogitore will present his film Les Indes galantes, which received the Audience Prize and the Télérama Jury Award at the 2018 Clermont-Ferrand Festival, along with the 2018 UNIFRANCE short film Prize. 
  
  
• Finally, Stéphanie Solinas, who is currently in residence at the Villa Médicis, will be returning to the Rencontres d’Arles for the first time since presenting her 2016 exhibition La Méthode des lieux présentée.
  She will be screening her first cinematographic production Ne me regarde pas, which received the 2018 SCAM Experimental Works Prize.