Ji.hlava 22

In his film selected for International Competition, Mateo Ybarra returns to familiar ground as he examines Swiss army conscripts recording their drills and exercises, as well as their reflections on mandatory military service. “Far from being convinced by the relevance of such an institution and its functioning, the intertwining of civil and military society is…fascinating to me,” Ybarra tells BDE.

In her new film Those Who Dance In The Dark which screened in Ji.hlava’s Czech Joy Competition (as well as winning the Best Documentary Feature at the Warsaw Festival), Czech filmmaker Jana Ševčíková looks at the lives of young blind people. As the director acknowledges to BDE, however, her first idea was to make the film about their guide dogs.

Sixteen titles from 15 countries have been selected for Opus Bonum International Competition of the 26th Ji.hlava IDFF. Eight films will be screened in their world premiere, seven in international premiere and one will have its European premiere at Ji.hlava. The festival also unveils the 5-strong Opus Bonum jury. $10,000 prize for Best World Doc.

On 29 October, Ji.hlava IDFF hosted a panel during which European festival directors discussed the boycott of Russian cinematography and other ethical dilemmas. Panelists included Cintia Gil (co-curator of Unidocs’ Artistic Differences), Veton Nurkollari (artistic director of Kosovo’s DokuFest), Viktoria Leshchenko (programme director of Docudays UA) and Marek Hovorka (director of Ji.hlava IDFF).

The 2nd edition of the Forum, running October 27-28, will 16 feature projects in development, production and post-production. The selected projects include diverse genres and audiovisual formats – such as fiction films with documentary aspects, hybrid, cinema expanded, experimental and short films. New awards in 2022.

The 2nd session of the Ex Oriente Film workshop 'Production and Story Development' takes place during the 26th Ji.hlava IDFF, running to October 30. The team of experienced tutors, comprising doc expert Mikael Opstrup, producer/consultant Iikka Vehkalahti, director/script editor Ivana Pauerová Miloševič and director/producer Filip Remunda will help selected filmmakers to develop their feature doc projects.

Czech filmmaker Victor Portel tells Business Doc Europe about his new doc, screening in International and Czech Joy competitions, concerning Vladimir Dzuro, an ex-Prague detective turned International Criminal Tribunal investigator, whose painstaking research led to the arrest of a notorious war criminal from the former Yugoslavia.

The festival programme will offer the ‘largest showcase of Filipino cinema in Europe,’ a reflection on Russian aggression in Ukraine and war as a theme, as well as new works by Armenian filmmaking legend Artavazd Peleshyan and Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa. Ji.hlava’s Inspiration Forum’s discussions will revolve around freedom, technology, the theory of degrowth and the situation in Ukraine.

During the October 25 festival opening, Romanian producer Ada Solomon was handed the APA World Excellence Award. The best film in Short Joy section film, as decided upon by the online viewers of DAFilms.com, was this year named as Blue Bed by Belgian director Lize Cuveele. In 2022, Ji.hlava IDFF presents almost four hundred films, and the festival continues to October 30.

What is it like to be young and female and/or queer in this day and age, when social media is part of your daily practice, defines who you are, undermines or boosts your self-confidence? Answers can be found in this atmospheric, sensitive and revealing documentary set in the world of girls on the verge of adulthood.