The Echoes of the 2020 Ji.hlava IDFF will sound online from March 11 for audiences in the Czech Republic, before selected films are made available to viewers in Belgium (March 11-17), France (18-25) and New York (19-25). The “documentary spring” will offer award-winning films, discussions and masterclasses.
“The global pandemic put a spoke in the wheels of the filmmaking world: cinemas remain closed, producers put off film shooting and many festivals have months-long delays,” says Ji.hlava IDFF director Marek Hovorka. “This is also why are launching our Echoes already in the springtime – we want to give documentary film fans and filmmakers a chance to connect.” The Echoes of Ji.hlava programme is held in partnership with the Czech Centers network.
Over forty films will be available to Czech audiences before the programme’s roll-out in Belgium (March 11–17) where twelve docs are featured. These include the best documentary debut from the 24th Ji.hlava IDFF Ghosts: Long Way Home by Portuguese director Tiago Siopa and the award-winning Time Is by talented Ghent-based filmmaker Zaur Kourazov. See details of full Belgium programme. https://www.ji-hlava.com/belgium
The screenings will be accompanied by Q&As with the authors and a masterclass for film students in Belgium.
The Echoes programme will then sound across France from March 18–25. New York will host the programme with three selected festival films made available online on March 19-25.
These screenings will be accompanied by Q&As with the filmmakers (Ai Weiwei, and others), recordings of Ji.hlava’s Inspiration Forum discussions and a masterclass for film students.
The Ji.hlava Echoes in Belgium, France and New York will be held online at dafilms.com. All screenings will be free of charge and geo-blocked for the respective territories of Belgium, France and New York.
The Echoes programme will also feature a panel discussion on March 15 during East Doc Platform entitled Reviving European Cinema which will feature four film producers representing different parts of Europe.
Notes for the discussion read how “European film production is losing its spirit and it is a fact that European cinema lags behind America in terms of global box office revenues. How, then, to revive European cinema and what are the ways to address the viewers? What is it that makes European films different and authentic?”
The 25th edition of Ji.hlava IDFF will take place on October 26–31, 2021. Fest organisers underline that the call for EMERGING PRODUCERS 2022 workshop is still open, with a registration deadline of March 31 2021. . The tenth edition of the workshop will take place on October 25-29 2021 (Jihlava) and in February 2022 (Berlin).
