"I don't think I'm doing a different festival than in previous years," Jean-François Leroy tells BJP in a phone interview. But, the director of the world's largest photojournalism festival admits the mood will be different. "We're mourning the death of three of our friends, three photographers - Lucas Dolega, Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington."

"I think it's important to remind people of the role photojournalists play in our lives," says Leroy. "We often hear people asking whether photojournalism is still needed; whether it still serves a purpose. Well, as you can see, there are a lot of people that have given a lot of themselves to allow us to stay informed. To lose two photojournalists of such stature at the same time, it's traumatic. But, I've been very surprised by how our community, our family, has taken the news of their death. For 10 days, it felt like everyone had stopped working - that we were trying to cope with these awful events"

As part of this year's Visa Pour l'Image, Leroy plans on paying tribute to Hondros and Hetherington, as well as Dolega, during the Friday and Saturday evening projections, which tend to be the most popular during the week-long festival."I want to pay tribute to Chris [Hondros], who was a true professional. We've shown his work a lot over the years. The same goes for Tim, with whom I was very close for many reasons. Tim was a very engaged photographer, he was very reflective about his work and photojournalism in general. But, it's too early to say exactly what I'll be showing at the festival."

What is known so far is that the festival will include the work of photographers such as Martina Bacigalupo of Agence Vu, Jocelyn Bain Hogg of Vii Network, and Jonas Bendiksen from Magnum Photos.

Valerio Bispuri, Fernando Moleres and Lu Nan will also be on show, all presenting long-term projects, which, Leroy says, shows how committed some photographers can be with their work. "I think it's important to show such depth; to show the work of people that have invested a lot of time in their stories," says Leroy. "Look at what we've shown in previous years with Eugene Richards, Andrea Star-Reese and Brenda Ann Kenneally, to cite just a few. I think it's very interesting to show something that has taken months, if not years to produce. It adds a lot of depth, especially at a time when we're used to the instantaneous; to the breaking news."

And while Lu Nan's work in China's psychiatric wards have been shown before in galleries and countless festivals, Leroy feels he has a duty to present it to his audience. "Lu Nan is not a discovery, but I know that a lot of people haven't see his work. I've always been surprised to find out that some people are just discovering the work of photographers such as David Douglas Duncan. Last year, you wouldn't believe the number of people that told me: 'Wow, [William] Klein is extraordinary, where did you find this work?' There are a lot of photographers who believe that photography started with James Nachtwey, or who consider [Sebastião] Salgado a dinosaur. So I think it's important to show this kind of work."

Leroy will also be showing the work of Joao Silva, the New York Times photographer who lost his two legs in Afghanistan last year. "We've shown his work, during the evening projections, every single year since 2004. I'm very happy to be able to show more of his work this year. But, as you know Joao is still in hospital and he doesn't have access to all of his archives, so I offered to put together a retrospective on his Afghan work (published by the New York Times), which he's been working on since 2004."

However, once Silva gain access to his archives, Leroy plans on putting together a full retrospective of his lifelong work - "from the Bang Bang Club to Afghanistan."

But don't expect to see projects on Tahrir Square - the famous junction where the Egyptian people defied their dictator. "I've never received that many CDs about one particular event. I know that square by heart now. I could draw you a plan from memory. I've seen it all: Tahrir during the day, Tahrir at night, Tahrir and the dogs, Tahrir in the morning, Tahrir in the evening. So what? What's the point? What's the story?"

Instead, Leroy has decided to show the work of Noor Images' Yuri Kozyrev, who spent the last few months documenting revolutions and popular uprising across the Middle East.

For a list of all the photographers that are set to be part of this year's festival, visit this companion piece on PhotojournalismLinks.

For more information on Visa Pour l'Image, visit www.visapourlimage.com.