29th Ji.hlava IDFF unveils full program

Running October 24 to November 2, the 29th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival – a key European documentary film festival and the largest event of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe – will offer 305 films in  its competitive and non-competitive sections, including 76 world premieres, 28 international premieres, and 15 European premieres. The festival will open October 24 with Barbora Chalupová’s documentary Virtual Girlfriends. 

“This year’s Ji.hlava is just one year away from its 30th anniversary, and the status of documentary film has evolved enormously during that time,” says Ji.hlava IDFF director Marek Hovorka. “Three decades ago, documentaries were regarded as a marginal form, almost invisible without the backing of public broadcasters. Today, however, no major festival can do without them. And documentaries are not only screened in both competitive and non-competitive sections – they also regularly win main awards. This transformation is reflected in the broad spectrum of films now labeled as documentaries. Filmmakers combine elements of fiction, experimentation, and animation while developing diverse documentary styles -from observational approaches and time-lapse to investigative forms and film essays.”

“It is no coincidence that documentary film is much more open to filmmakers, offering greater freedom for creative expression than the world of fiction film. Documentary cinema has long been the most dynamic and inspiring area of filmmaking, and it’s worth watching how it continues to engage audiences,” adds Hovorka.

The author of the official festival trailer for the 29th Ji.hlava IDFF is Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, whose works combine “precise observation of reality with a deeply humanistic view of history and the present,” the festival notes. The trailer prepared for this year’s edition takes place in the subway of the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. “The footage comes from material shot in the spring of 2023 as part of The Invasion project. I wanted to capture the lives of ordinary Ukrainians across the country—from Kharkiv to Lviv, from Kyiv to Odesa—and observe how war affects every aspect of civilian life and transforms individuals and society as a whole,” explains Loznitsa.

OPENING FILM: VIRTUAL GIRLFRIENDS BY CZECH DIRECTOR BARBORA CHALUPOVÁ
The opening film of this year’s festival will be Virtual Girlfriends by Czech director Barbora Chalupová, which explores digital intimacy and the transformation of relationships in the era of artificial intelligence.

Through the stories of three women, the film follows the process of content creation, conversations with subscribers, and the everyday dynamics of their romantic and work relationships. Where is the line between work and intimacy, and who is actually the victim in all this? 

“Virtual Girlfriend is not a sensationalist look at eroticism, but an attempt to understand how intimacy, relationships, and our ideas about closeness are changing in the digital world,” says director Barbora Chalupová. “The audience in Jihlava is curious and sensitive. They perceive current phenomena without prejudice and seek out films that open up space for dialogue. I am glad that our film can open this year’s edition of this festival, which gives space to ethically sensitive and courageous documentaries,” adds the director. The film will be screened in both Opus Bonum and Czech Joy sections.

OPUS BONUM COMPETITION 2025
The Opus Bonum competition section, which offers “the most remarkable world documentaries, will feature 15 films this year and focuses on boundaries – personal, spiritual, social, and geographical – and their variability in today’s world,” the festival writes. “The films are united by a deep attention to human experience, an ability to transform personal stories into more general reflections, and a visual sensitivity that reveals how our identity is shaped by the surrounding world – the body, the landscape, faith, and time.”           

• Virtual Girlfriends by Barbora Chalupová. Czech Republic/Slovakia/Bulgaria, 90 mins. World Premiere. Synopsis: On OnlyFans, intimacy turns into work, and work turns into intimacy, in a system where the boundaries between private and public are blurred, and where it is unclear who needs, uses, or loves whom.
• Open by Diana Fabiánová. Slovakia, 2025, 83 mins, World Premiere. Synopsis: The director turned the camera directly on herself and her family and documented how she and her partner manage to live in a partnership with shifted “boundaries of fidelity” in an open relationship.
• Truth or Dare by Tonislav Hristov. Finland/Bulgaria, 2025, 84 mins World Premiere. Synopsis: This probe into pre-election Bulgaria reveals the creators and disseminators of fake news, its impact on people’s lives and election results, and examines how the boundaries between law and morality are reflected in everyday life.
• Bürglkopf by Lisa Polster. Austria/Germany, 2025, 78 mins. International Premiere. Synopsis: The refugee centre at the top of Bürglkopf shows how systematic isolation takes place behind the facade of the Alpine landscape, where a strict regime and limited contact with the outside world make it difficult for asylum seekers to live a dignified life.
• While the Green Grass Grows: A Diary in Seven Parts by Peter Mettler. Switzerland/Canada, 2025, 420 mins. International Premiere. Synopsis: A personal diary exploring human existence, time, and the places we inhabit, connecting the intimate fates of characters with a meditative visual odyssey through American nature and everyday life.
• Skyless Roof by Diego Hernández. Mexico, 2025, 90 mins. European Premiere. Synopsis: The meeting of two opposites—exhaustion and insomnia—becomes a sensitive study of emptiness, lost vitality, and the constant search for balance in today’s world.
• Floating Population by Carlos Araya Díaz. Chile, 2025, 65 mins. World Premiere. Synopsis: The author’s personal memories of childhood intertwine with imaginary events, while a bus full of passengers with remarkable destinies travels through the Chilean countryside.
• To Alexandra by Yi Cui China. Canada/United States, 2025, 71 mins. World Premiere. Synopsis: The poetic landscape of the Himalayas intertwines the journeys of Chinese filmmaker and French explorer Alexandra David-Néel, whose travels, which are divided by a century, create a lyrical documentary meditation on faith, identity and time.
• Music in a Village Named 1PB by Surabhi Sharma. India, 2025, 130 mins. International Premiere. Synopsis: A portrait of the Mir community in the Rajasthan desert shows how musical and spiritual traditions are coping with environmental change, loss of identity, and the decline of the landscape.
• Power Station by Hilary Powell/Dan Edelstyn. United Kingdom, 2025, 90 mins. European Premiere. Synopsis: In post-pandemic Walthamstow, we follow the story of a pair of artists and activists who decide to transform their street into a solar-powered community and show that even a small collective can initiate real change.
• A State Film by Roland Sejko. Italy, 2025, 78 mins. International Premiere. Synopsis: Forty years of Enver Hoxha’s dictatorship in Albania are examined through archival footage of state propaganda, raising the question of the role of images in shaping history.
• Silver by Natalia Koniarz. Poland, 2025, 79 mins. International Premiere. Synopsis: This raw portrayal of the lives of miners and their families in a Bolivian silver mine shows the hard work, threat of death, and violence in contrast to the spontaneity and faith of children.
• Everything Works Out (In the End) by Maximilien Dejoie. Italy/United Kingdom, 2025, 80 mins. World Premiere. Synopsis: Katelyn, a former adult entertainment industry worker, returns to her hometown and tries to find meaning in life again, with faith, exorcisms, and a tense political atmosphere influencing her journey.
• Abysses and Wonders by Jean Boiron-Lajous. France, 2025, 79 mins. World Premiere. Synopsis: Christine and Jean set out to visit their sadistic mother to uncover the truth about a hidden farewell letter that symbolizes unspoken family pain.
• The Beauty of the Donkey by Dea Gjinovci. Kosovo/Switzerland/France/United States, 2025, 77 mins. International Premiere. Synopsis: The return of a father and daughter to a post-war village in Kosovo turns into a poetic reconstruction of personal and collective memory.

FIRST LIGHTS 2025
The First Lights competition section will present a total of 11 “remarkable” debuts and offer a glimpse into the human experience in isolation, in transitional or crisis situations, and in a changing world. The documentaries in this section explore issues of identity, solidarity, vulnerability, and the search for meaning in the context of current social, political, and cultural pressures.                                      

• Minimum Love by Maja Penčič. Czech Republic, 2025, 76 mins. World Premiere. Synopsis: Driven by the chaotic energy of Prague’s streets, the film consists of several spontaneous surveys. Together, they paint a picture of widespread apathy, and the values of today’s Czech youth. In addition to the author herself, the film features more or less sober young people who unabashedly share their views on the climate crisis, feminism, and the war in Ukraine, with the camera. But they also talk about the meaning of life, the secrets of good sex and love, the search for (and failure to find) which is one of the central themes of the film.
• Still Nia by Paula Onet . Romania/France, 2025, 71 mins. International Premiere. Synopsis: In this empathetic film about the therapeutic power of art, we follow Stephania as she uses dance and creativity to relate to her childhood trauma, which is linked to a misdiagnosis of an illness in her childhood.
• Standby by Daphne van den Blink. Belgium,2024, 70 mins. International Premiere. Synopsis: A training camp on a NATO warship is the subject of this observational film, which shows war training as a gruelling routine that is nevertheless constantly permeated by a latent sense of danger.
• Taste of Salt by Raaed Al Kour. Germany, 2025, 88 mins. World Premiere. Synopsis: The film tells the story of refugees from Arab countries living in Germany through their testimonies, observations of everyday life, and artistic theatrical performances.
• Passengers by Rim Harrabi. Tunisia, 2025, 84 mins. World Premiere. Synopsis: Eight personalities of different backgrounds spend their COVID quarantine in a house on the outskirts of Tunis, which becomes an almost mystical transitional space in this impressionistic documentary.
• The cats, the sea, and everything in between by Karel Malkoun. Lebanon/Canada, 2025, 73 mins. World Premiere. Synopsis: The film diary consists of spontaneous snapshots capturing the author’s short stay in her native Lebanon, which has been hit by economic crisis.
• Sunshower by Micko Boanerges. Indonesia, 2024, 60 mins. International Premiere. Synopsis: This black-and-white minimalist film depicts the turbulent pre-election atmosphere in Indonesia from the perspective of the director’s grandparents, who live a quiet life in the countryside and rarely venture into public spaces.
• So Close, So Far by Yudi Zhu. Hong Kong/China, 2024, 98 mins. European Premiere. Synopsis: A devastating portrait of the director’s father, who falls into debt, provides an intimate chronicle of the breakdown of one family and, at the same time, an example of the tragedies of some families in Chinese society affected by the real estate crisis.
• Unearthed by Ania Szczepanska. France/Poland, 2025, 62 mins. International Premiere. Synopsis: In 1967, at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Andrzej Brzozowski filmed an archaeological excavation near Crematorium III. In this 14-minute film, archaeologists unearthed 16,470 objects that once belonged to deportees. It is the only excavation ever conducted in this area. Nearly 50 years later, Ania Szczepanska retraces the history of the film, and sets out to find these objects that were discovered beneath the earth.
• A Grandfather by Vytautas Oškinis. Lithuania, 2025, 68 mins. World Premiere. Synopsis: This chronicle of the cohabitation of the director and his grandfather, the prominent conservative politician Vytautas Landsbergis, in one household during the COVID quarantine shows the intertwining of everyday life, artistic expression, and statesmanlike declamation.
• Vacances by Victoria Hely-Hutchinson. United States/France/United Kingdom, 2025, 81 mins. World Premiere. Synopsis:VACANCES, filmed over a decade at a sun-drenched Provençal villa, follows ‘Granny’, a Bohemian countess seeking a successor. Clad in swimsuits, her young descendants navigate her complex world, regress under her scrutiny, and resist her arcane advice. Granny’s influence fades with each new great-grandchild. Finally, her heirs begin to parse her legacy and ready themselves to move beyond the villa.

CZECH JOY: KAPRÁLOVÁ, POLITICAL MARKETING, AND A PORTRAIT OF A GENERATION
The Czech Joy competition section presents 18 new Czech documentaries that reflect a wide range of social, cultural, and personal themes. This year’s selection explores issues of memory, identity, the relationship between humans and nature and society, and current social, political, and cultural contexts.

“Czech documentary film, represented by more than two dozen new releases in various competition sections, is showing its confidence,” says Marek Hovorka. “These are films by Czech directors, but also co-productions by Czech production companies involved in the creation of films by Ukrainian filmmaker Vitalij Mansky, Slovak filmmakers Viera Čákanyová, Zuzana Piussi, and Martin Kollár, and Polish director Weronika Miczewska. This year’s Czech Joy brings remarkable feature-length debuts by Maja Penčič and Michal Böhm, as well as premieres by established filmmakers. Viewers can look forward to a diverse commentary not only on the Czech present.” 

The program includes the observational film Grolich the Great by director Jakub Ondráček, which offers an authentic insight into the campaign of South Moravian People’s Party governor Jan Grolich ahead of the 2024 regional elections. The section will also present the documentary Kaprálová by director Petr Záruba, which reconstructs the short but intense life of Czech composer Vítězslava Kaprálová. The film uses archival footage and letters that the young artist sent to her family, and in parallel follows a new generation of conductors, such as Bianca Maretti, as they interpret her compositions. 

Markéta Ekrt Válková’s time-lapse film Amira’s Children follows a Syrian family trying to integrate in Prague over a period of ten years and shows the complexities of adaptation, generations, and cultural identity in a new environment. Tomáš Elšík’s film Resilience, which straddles the line between lyrical essay and environmental detective story, follows Klára and Pavel as they listen to the silence of the Czech countryside – searching for endangered birds of prey, restoring wetlands, and protecting meadows by mowing them. Inspired by the ideas of David Abram, the film explores whether it is possible to restore the balance between humans and nature, which is disappearing before our eyes. In Time to the Target, Vitaly Mansky sharply reflects on the current reality in Ukraine: children are taught in schools in Lviv, tourists flood the city center, and locals gather in cafés. Yet the normality of life is disrupted by the consequences of Russian aggression. New graves are being dug in cemeteries for fallen soldiers, and funeral music is interrupted by the sound of sirens. 

The documentary Child of Dust by Polish director Weronika Mliczewska tells the story of Sang, who has carried the stigmatizing label of “child of dust” his entire life—the unwanted offspring of a Vietnamese mother and an American soldier. In the meditative Chronicle, Martin Kollár composes a visually precise mosaic of contemporary Slovakia from long-term footage of landscapes, architecture, animals, and people. The result is a remarkably accurate yet dreamlike portrait of a country that is both intimately familiar and disturbingly foreign to us, while Viera Čákanyová once again delves into the digital and philosophical layers of existence in Bardo.

Robin Kvapil’s documentary Change My Mind follows two Czech men and one Czech woman who, half a century after the occupation of Czechoslovakia, set off in the opposite direction – to Ukraine. They want to see with their own eyes the war about which they “have their own opinion.” Tatiana Marková’s Kingdom of Soap Bubbles reconstructs the fascinating story of the Schicht family, founders of the legendary “soap with a deer.” Over the course of a century, the small business grew into a multinational corporation that survived wars, the collapse of empires, and forced displacement. The personal and historical levels are also connected in Allegra Stodolsky’s film Fittko: Resistance and Exile, a docudrama dedicated to the left-wing intellectual Lisa Fittko, who helped people fleeing the Nazis during World War II, including Walter Benjamin and Hannah Arendt. The environmental and spiritual levels are connected in Zuzana Piussi’s analytical documentary Voice of the Forest, which delves into the polarized debate about the state of Slovak forests. 

Details on all Czech Joy films can be found here.

TESTIMONIES: TREES, POLAND, AND A PORTRAIT OF A FILMMAKER
The Testimonies competition section presents films that explore authentic human experience and reflections on the past and present. They share an emphasis on personal and collective memory, the relationship between humans and their environment and society, and the ability to use stories to offer deeper insight into social, cultural, and historical contexts. The section will offer 15 films.

Among the Czech titles, Petr Krejčí’s educational documentary Forested Future stands out, exploring man’s relationship to forests and their role as guardians of the landscape and memory. The director seeks answers across professions—from architects, lumberjacks, and teachers to economists and activists—and finds inspiration in an Indian tribe in the Appalachian Mountains, offering viewers a glimpse into the deep civilizational interconnection between humans and trees. The film Poland Versus History by Polish actress and director Joanna Grudzinska explores the impact of Jan Tomasz Gross’s controversial book Neighbors, which revealed that the pogrom in the village of Jedwabne in 1941 was not the work of Germans, but of local residents. 

The Latvian documentary Podnieks on Podnieks. A Witness to History by Antra Cilinska and Anna Viduleja presents the life and work of Juris Podnieks (1950–1992), a pioneer of European documentary filmmaking. Using personal diaries, photographs, and film footage, it offers an urgent portrait of a filmmaker whose obsession with being “there” during momentous events—from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the Latvian struggle for freedom—became his life’s destiny. 

All films in the Testimonies section can be found here.

IMMERSIVE DOCUMENTARY STORYTELLING IN THE VIRTUAL REALITY COMPETITION 
This year’s Virtual Reality competition section will present 11 works. As usual, it will feature the latest and most interesting in immersive documentary storytelling and interactive art. This year’s VR projects include works reflecting on ecology, war, mental health, physicality, and self-perception.

In the visually captivating film Honey Fungus, the audience, led by a queer mycelial guide, embarks on a journey of ecological self-discovery through interactive mushroom landscapes, where science, sensuality, and AI-generated poetry intertwine. An intense metaphor for the anger and unrest of the contemporary world, The Exploding Girl by the creative duo Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel depicts an uncontrollable inner explosion as a mirror of social tension. The empathetic and sensitively crafted title Illusion opens up the world of a girl with depression and anxiety, helping the audience to understand it through haptic sensations, music, and interaction.

Social and historical themes are reflected in the powerful documentary VR film Shelter, which draws the audience into everyday situations from the war in Ukraine – from interviews with pregnant women to concerts in shelters. Other titles include the award-winning project The Choice – Chapters 2 & 3 on reproductive rights, the emotional Fly to You about families divided by the Korean War, the playfully visual Magic You about neurodiverse adolescence with ADHD, and the historically themed Somewhere Unknown in Indochina, which maps forgotten refugee stories from the 1970s. 

RETROSPECTIVE: COLLECTIVE FILM
Every year, Ji.hlava also presents unique retrospectives. In addition to the Food and Epoch showcase, which captures the transformations of society through food and dining, this year it will also offer an exceptional section called Collective Film. This section will present a cross-section of the work of film collectives from across continents and decades – from the 1960s to the present day – and show that even a non-hierarchical community of authors can create aesthetically sophisticated, politically courageous and humanly profound works.

“While researching collective films, I was thrilled by how aesthetically striking and imaginative they are, even though they are not created by a single dominant authorial personality. Collective creation, which works to dissolve the boundaries between individual professions and is based on the sharing of knowledge and expertise, is also characteristic of other art forms in the second half of the 20th century. It is also often linked to social activism or work in local communities and reinforces interdisciplinarity,” says Andrea Slováková, programmer of the section. 

The program will feature, among other works, the famous Bolivian film Blood of the Condor (1969), shot by the Grupo Ukamau collective. This docu-fiction reveals the secret sterilization of indigenous women by American health workers and became a symbol of resistance against colonialism and an inspiration for Bolivia’s political awakening. The British Black Audio Film Collective will present its groundbreaking film Handsworth Songs (1986), a polyphonic visual essay on migration, identity, and the media image of the 1985 riots in Birmingham. The American collective Videofreex will be remembered for its guerrilla video Mayday 1971 (1971), which authentically captures the anti-war protests in Washington and the power of collective solidarity in the midst of repression. The present will be represented by the interdisciplinary group Forensic Architecture with its analytical reconstruction The Bombing of Rafah (2015), which combines scientific and artistic methods to visualize war crimes. 

JI.HLAVA IDFF TO PRESENT TSAI MING-LIANG WORLD PREMIERE
Following last year’s visit, Tsai Ming-liang, a leading representative of Taiwanese cinema, who was awarded the Award for Contribution to Cinema at the festival in 2024, will return to Jihlava. During this year’s festival, he will shoot a film for his famous Walker series, and also present it here in its world premiere. 

“Tsai Ming-liang is one of the most prominent Asian filmmakers, who regularly presents his films in Cannes, Venice, and Berlin. We are delighted that his visit to last year’s festival inspired him to shoot a film for his acclaimed series. It is a great honor for Ji.hlava as a festival and for the Czech Republic, which will thus join Hong Kong, Malaysia, France, and the USA, where Tsai Ming-liang shot the previous parts,” says Marek Hovorka of the upcoming film.

The film, which will be made directly during the festival in collaboration with FAMU students, will be premiered on November 1. The filming was financially supported by the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture. 

INSPIRATION FORUM 2025: EUROPE, LOVE, MONEY, RADICALIZATION
“Today, Europe must seek a new narrative and the courage to transform itself,” the festival writes.  On Saturday, October 25, futurist and writer Jonathan Ledgard will offer a glimpse into the future of the continent and present his vision of Europe in fifty years—not between East and West, but toward Africa, where technology, imagination, and responsibility meet. 

Ji.hlava will also look at the issue of defense capabilities and how Europe can become truly resilient at a time when war is redrawing its security map. Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov will offer the experience of a country for which resilience has become a daily necessity.

On Sunday, October 26, the forum will focus on one of the most powerful forces in our lives—love. Not only its romantic form, but especially the kind that can overcome hatred. Palestinian-Canadian physician and peace activist Izzeldin Abuelaish, who became famous as a force for love after refusing to give in to hatred during the war in Gaza despite losing three daughters, will speak about this. In Jihlava, he will show that love can be more than a personal feeling. It can be a radical political gesture, a path to healing, and a foundation for future coexistence.

The second Friday of the festival, October 31, will be devoted to money, which drives the world and our everyday lives. British economist and author of the bestseller Vulture Capitalism, Grace Blakeley, will analyze why today’s economic system primarily protects the powerful and what could lead to greater justice. American political scientist Jeffrey A. Winters will then show how the concentration of wealth is becoming a new form of power and what this means for democracy.

The final festival day, Saturday, November 1, will be devoted to radicalization, which is taking place inconspicuously, on a daily basis, and digitally. Researcher Eviane Leidig observes how extremist ideas spread among women through social networks via influencers, videos about healthy lifestyles, and motherhood blogs. She shows that radicalization often comes not with a shout, but with a smile.

“At the Inspiration Forum, we will blur the line between the stage and the audience, ask questions, create, and search together. It is here that we can meet people we might never have met elsewhere—and talk about things we would probably never talk about elsewhere,” says Inspiration Forum director Tereza Swadoschová.