Ji.hlava 24

Marek Hovorka has no qualms about his festival, arguably the most important doc event in the CEE, situated nearly two hours drive from the Czech capital of Prague. “People are meeting in Jihlava because it's not the capital. It’s like a documentary Woodstock for them. They really are focused on films and talks and meetings inspired by cinema - and by the festival itself,” he tells Business Doc Europe on the eve of Ji.hlava IDFF’s 28th roll-out.

For five years, Slovak director Marek Šulík followed Zuzana Čaputová after she was elected President of her country in 2019. The politician initially took a little time to agree to the documentary, but her advisors and civil servants were all supportive from the word go. “I didn’t meet anybody who was angry or felt bad about my camera. Somehow, they understood this was a unique situation, that in Slovakia we had a woman in this post. It was special, valuable and needed to be recorded.”

15 new European documentary projects will be presented at the 4th edition of New Visions Forum on October 30-31, held as part of the 28th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. The Forum will feature projects in development as well as in production and post-production, and will include documentary features, series, hybrid, experimental, and shorts. Ji.hlava IDFF runs October 25 to November 3.

In addition to the already announced Opus Bonum & First Lights International Competitions, the Testimonies will offer “the most daring documentaries from the fields of politics, nature and knowledge.” Czech Joy features the national competition and Fascinations and exprmntl.cz focus on experimental films. Meanwhile, Constellations will present the best docs form leading world festivals this year. The Czech film fest runs October 25 to November 3.

The programme offers more than three hundred films and includes a revealing retrospective of Swiss filmmaker Anne Marie Miéville and a showcase of award-winning Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang. The festival will be attended by director Kirsten Johnson, the author of this year's Ji.hlava festival trailer, and directors Roberto Minervini, Albert Serra and Andrei Ujică. The 28th IDFF Ji.hlava will take place on October 25 – Nov 3.

Running October 29 to November 1, Industry Days highlights include the New Visions Forum and Market, the Emerging Producers presentation of 18 up-and-coming European film producers, the Festival Identity workshop and creative hub for film festival representatives, and the Matchmaking Accelerator during which 500+ one-on-one meetings will take place. And more…

Directed by Marek Šulík, Ms. President is described as “time-lapse portrait of Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová.” The festival programme, extended this year from six to ten days (October 25 – November 3), will offer up new documentaries from across the world, retrospectives, the best of experimental filmmaking and a number of non-competitive programme sections. Industry runs October 29-November 1 2024.

Eight new projects from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine will be presented during the CineLink Industry Days on Sunday August 18. Ji.hlava IDFF will also announce the next cohort of Emerging Producers 2025, and further reminds the doc industry of the August 15 deadline for European and East & Southeast Asian projects applying to Ji.hlava New Visions Forum & Market, as well as for filmmakers from the Caucasus who can have travel/accommodation covered at Ji.hlava.

The Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival and Czech entrepreneur have Jan Barta joined forces to support “outstanding auteur filmmaking” from Central and Eastern Europe by launching the Ji.hlava/JB Films support scheme. The financial support will come in the form of co-production contributions to film projects. Around 3–4 documentary and hybrid films in production or post-production will be supported. One project can receive up to €40,000. Deadline for applications is April 30.