Apr 19, 2026 10:25pm PT

Jacqueline Zünd Explores Climate Inequality in ‘Heat,’ Premiering at Visions du Réel: ‘I Found Dystopia in Real Life’

The Swiss director discusses her documentary, shot across the Persian Gulf, which captures how extreme temperatures are reshaping daily life

Lise Pedersen

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Lise Pedersen

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Courtesy of VdR

“Heat is like a death sentence.”

The line, spoken by a Kuwait-based meteorologist in Jacqueline Zünd’s “Heat,” anchors a film that examines global warming not through explanation but through what the Swiss filmmaker describes as “a sensory experience.”

Premiering in the main competition at Visions du Réel, Switzerland’s leading documentary film festival, “Heat” immerses the viewer in environments where extreme temperatures are entirely reshaping the way people live and work, exposing stark inequalities as the wealthy retreat into air-conditioned worlds, leaving those who serve them to endure the extremes.