Jean-François Leroy, co-founder and director of the Visa pour l'Image photojournalism festival, died of cancer on 31 August — just as the festival he led for nearly four decades opened for its 38th edition in Perpignan.

Born in Paris in 1956, Leroy worked as a photographer for Sipa Press and as editor-in-chief of Photo Magazine before becoming director of Visa in 1989, the year the festival was founded. Under his leadership, Visa grew into a celebrated event and a key meeting-place for the profession: the collectives VII and Noor both chose to launch during the festival's opening week, VII in 2001 and Noor in 2007. The French state awarded Leroy a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres and a Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite.

"It's a tragic thing, Jean-François leaving this world, and you can see there's a deserved outpouring [of tributes]," says Jillian Edelstein, who won the Visa d'Or in 1997 for her work on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. "Visa has backed and supported so many photojournalists and, given what kind of a world we're in, that's so important."

"Jean-François had a very good eye, and he helped the festival to exist and be successful," says Kadir van Lohuizen, documentary photographer, Noor co-founder and 2007 Visa d'Or winner for his work in Chad. "People have declared Visa dead many times, but Jean-François was a kind of a chameleon and he was always able to find another way [to get support]."

This year's edition, programmed by Leroy, includes exhibitions by Hashem Shakeri on war in Iran, Abdulmonam Eassa on conflict in Sudan, and Elise Blanchard on girls sold in Afghanistan. The shows and screenings take place in historic Perpignan venues such as the Couvent des Minimes, a 15th-century former convent, and the Campo Santo, a grand open-air cloister. Backed by Canon since the first festival in 1990, the event is free to attend.

Leroy was known for an uncompromising editorial line, and he defended it publicly this summer. When Visa faced criticism over the lack of work by women photographers, he responded in an Instagram statement on 24 July: "Over the nearly 40 years that we have been doing Visa pour l'Image in Perpignan, there has only ever been one rule: exhibiting and screening what we believed to be the best in photojournalism. It is a rule that I have never wanted to bend, even when the norms of the day suggested that we should ensure that there was parity in terms of gender, race, sex, etc."

He acknowledged that women represent only 22% of this year's festival programme, a figure he attributed to a significant drop in submissions from women amid broader cuts to photography budgets in media outlets. "Female photojournalists, both young and established, have often told us that they do not want to be selected or win awards based on positive discrimination," he wrote. "Rather, they would like to be recognized based on the strength of their talent." Leroy pointed to initiatives such as the Canon Female Photojournalist Grant and the Françoise Demulder Photography Grants as evidence of the festival's support for women. His statement nonetheless met with resistance.

He also navigated a shifting political terrain at home. Perpignan's local government has been run by the far-right Rassemblement National since 2020, and the RN's Louis Aliot was re-elected mayor in March 2026. The party has cut support for local cultural bodies, but Visa endured. "He [Aliot] could have wrecked the festival when he took office; he didn't, and he continues to host us without exerting the slightest pressure," Leroy told Libération in 2023. "So, we speak of 'benevolent neutrality'."

That interview was prompted by a controversy over Jordi Borràs's exhibition on the far right in Europe, whose original submission included images of Marine Le Pen removed without the photographer's knowledge before opening. Leroy's response was blunt: "Overall, his story was very thoroughly researched, but in the middle, there were three shitty photos from 2017 — one of Marine Le Pen at a podium, one of a crowd, and one of a guy wearing a scarf — that looked like they'd been snapped in a rush and weakened the whole piece." He said the festival kept 50 images out of 72, and that such edits happen regularly given the volume of stories Visa handles.

Ruth Eichhorn, celebrated photography director of GEO Magazine, died on the same day as Leroy. "It feels like the end of an era," says Van Lohuizen. "But a photojournalism festival is now more needed than ever. Photojournalism is more needed than ever. Photojournalists are literally under fire, they need the support."

Van Lohuizen credits the festival's longevity in part to Leroy's team, especially executive director Delphine Lelu. "It must be devastating for all of them, but I hope the festival will survive, and that the philosophy behind the festival will survive," he says.

The exhibitions at Visa pour l'Image remain open until 13 September in Perpignan, free to visit.