Ji.hlava 24

Eight industry awards were presented 31 October to the most promising projects participating in the Ji.hlava New Visions Forum 2024. In total, thirty projects from Europe, United States and East & Southeast Asia in development, production and post-production were presented. The winners received cash and in-kind awards in accordance with the partners of Ji.hlava IDFF.

At Ji.hlava 2024, writer-producer-director Maté Konkol and producer Balász Zachar pitched their timely new doc project, titled Books Are Our Weapons. Set in Hungary, the feature delves into life within a socially committed student commune. “Today, we all feel that young adults are aware of living in a society ruled by patriarchy and capitalism. They want to change things and their ways of life,” says Konkol of the project that is nearing completion.

Oscar-winning Czech director Marie Dvořáková felt a natural sense of identification with photographer Marie Tomanová, the subject of her exuberant new doc World Between Us (a world premiere this week in Ji.hlava’s Czech Joy section). Like Tomanová, she too had left the Czech Republic behind to pursue her artistic career in the bohemian melting pot of New York. “I think her story mirrors the stories of thousands of people, artists who came to New York to fulfil their dreams - and I am actually one of them!” Dvořáková tells BDE.

Nardelli and La Rosa’s feature doc project is set in an isolated neighbourhood of Palermo, where three kids turn an abandoned building into a secret shelter. Together, they try to escape the violence of the outside world and share their dreams. “Here growing up means becoming part of a community wherein girls get pregnant at the age of 15, and boys drop out of school to get odd jobs or join the ranks of organised crime,” La Rosa told the Ji.hlava audience.

BDE takes a closer look at Dmytro Hreshko’s documentary Divia, pitched at this year’s New Visions Forum, hosted by Jihlava 2024. The film, fully financed and currently in post-production, examines the environmental impact of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine. “It’s hard to put some emotions into words because most of them are inside this project,” said Hreshko. “It’s really personal, and it’s hard to realise how many natural resources have been destroyed, mined, or occupied by Russian military forces.”

Haunted by the silence that defined his father’s life, director André Robert seeks to confront the legacy of intergenerational violence burdening the men in his family in his feature doc, currently in post-production and pitched at New Visions Forum. “I’m a queer filmmaker; I’m sure you know what ‘remaining silent’ means,” he told the professional audience at Ji.hlava.

The Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival and Czech entrepreneur Jan Barta have joined forces to support outstanding auteur filmmaking from Central and Eastern Europe with the launch of the Ji.hlava/JB Films support scheme. Three recipients of support totalling €110,000 were announced October 30 during the Industry Days of the 28th Ji.hlava IDFF.

On 29 October, Ji.hlava IDFF’s Industry Hub hosted a presentation and short previews of nine brand new Czech documentary films selected for the festival’s National Competition, all introduced by their authors. The showcase was hosted by Czech Television Deputy Editor-in-Chief Diana Tabakov. Czech Joy is the competition section for the best Czech documentary, celebrating “diversity of themes and cinematic expression.”

The award for Best Short Film went to the Indian Only If the Baby Cries…by Shadab Farooq. The prize for the best documentary book was awarded to the anthology If I Am to Die, Let it Be a Story, about several Palestinian women living in the Czech Republic or Czech with Palestinian roots. The Respekt magazine award was given to Darja Stomatová and Ján Schrürger from Czech Television for their Ukrainian reportage for Czech TV, while the APA Award went to Slovakian Zuzana Mistríková.

A fascinating delve into the life of Vitaly Panasyuk, an intense (and desperately idiosyncratic) supporter of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Happiness to All offers a non-judgmental look at Russian life on the fringes, where memories of the ideals of the USSR are still entrenched, and where the West is still blamed for many issues facing modern-day Russia.