Pic: Hubert Sauper’s Epicentro
Czech docfest’s October programme to offer the first and the last film by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, a portrait of artist Marina Abramović, Giedre Zickyte’s The Jump and Hubert Sauper’s Epicentro. Women to dominate the music doc section and Inspiration Forum to turn gaze towards Africa.
“This year’s journey is by far the most adventurous in the history of the festival. We still believe that Ji.hlava will take place on-site, safely and that it will again bring extraordinary cinematic experience,” comments Ji.hlava IDFF director Marek Hovorka. “We want to stay loyal to our audiences and the filmmakers also in the unpredictable times.”
Canadian experimental and auteur filmmaker Mike Hoolboom, whose Fascination (2006) made such made such a strong impression that the experimental festival section adopted the film’s name, provides the filmed ‘spot’ in 2020. “The nun is Romy Cola, an artist who has a special interest in crossing over, stepping into forbidden zones, singing where others fear to tread. Who else could I ask to appear as a nun?” asks Mike Hoolboom about this year’s festival spot. Previous festival ‘spots’ have been by Jean-Luc Godard and Godfrey Reggio.
The festival will also feature Last and First Man, the first and last film of Icelandic filmmaker Jóhann Jóhannsson who died unexpectedly before its completion. The sci-fi poem speaks about the end of humankind and is narrated by Tilda Swinton who received the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival 2020.
In Testimonies competition is The Jump by Giedre Zickyte, the unbelievable story of Lithuanian seaman Simas Kudirka. During the Cold War, Kudirka randomly encountered an American ship on the sea and made a dramatic leap from the board of the Soviet vessel to find his way to freedom. Testimonies will also offer an intimate cinematic portrait of Marina Abramović, Serbian performer and body-artist who calls herself the “grandma of performance art” and has been pushing the limits of art expression for forty years. Homecoming: Marina Abramović and Her Children was made by Marina’s compatriot Boris Miljković.
The Constellations section showcases the best of films shown at festivals over the past year and include Hubert Sauper’s Sundance winner Epicentro and Merry Christmas, Yiwu, by Serbian director Mladen Kovacević. Todd Chandler’s Bulletproof explores the phenomenon of ‘school shooters’ and how they have transformed the US society.
Following the festival theme of erotica in 2019, this year’s experimental retrospective will focus on the phenomenon of gardens. “The garden is one of the popular motives, metaphors and visual inspirations in the film avant-garde,” says the section’s programmer Andrea Slováková.
In 2020 the festival will also turn its attention to the unique and experimental underground cinema of Poland. “For six years already, Ji.hlava has been mapping experimental and underground film production from the countries of the so-called Eastern Bloc. Poland experienced strong experimental trends mainly since the 1970s and this part of filmmaking and thinking has been significantly affected by the National Film School in Łódź,” says Andrea Slováková. “From among the countries and regions that we have covered, Poland is the most advanced in terms of their mapping and care for this type of films.” The section will feature renowned directors including Jerzy Skolimowski, and works that have yet not been discovered internationally.
Discovering female creativity
The music film section has been an integral part of the festival and this year’s offer features films by female filmmakers about female protagonists. “It just turned out this way,” says the curator of the Siren Test section Pavel Klusák, “we are obviously living in an era where female creativity is getting massively uncovered. The authors of today and of the past.” The selection includes Lisa Rovner’s Sisters with Transistors, about the outstanding women who have influenced electronic music and Beth B’s riveting film portrait Lydia Lunch – The War Is Never Over which indicates the close connection between radical art and social change utopia. Event curator Pavel Klusák has also prepared a seminar called Gotťák with rare audiovisual testimonies relating to the career of Karel Gott – the brightest star of former Czechoslovakia.
Ten years of inspiration
Ji.hlava also presents to 10th Inspiration Forum in 2020 during which audiences will be treated to six days of discussions and presentations on various topics. “The Inspiration Forum provides an opportunity to discover new perspectives, strengthen the dialogue and introduce unexpected issues in the public space. We bring together global and local personalities, young and older generations, women and men,” says Inspiration Forum’s programmer Tereza Swadoschová. Topics include women and religion, sustainable development and the enormous potential for change in post-colonial Africa. “The connecting element of the Inspiration Forum is the faith in the power of imagination that can help revive the world and open the door to geopolitically, socially and environmentally more responsible future,” adds Swadoschová.
