Ji.hlava 25

Eleven industry awards were presented October 21 to the most promising projects at Ji.hlava New Visions Forum 2025. In total, fifty-five projects from Europe, United States and East & Southeast Asia were presented, whether in development, production or post-production. The winners received numerous cash awards, and in-kind awards handed out in association with partners of Ji.hlava IDFF. All winners…

Inna Shevchenko, Ukrainian feminist activist and the leader of international women's movement FEMEN, pitched her urgent new project, about the Ukrainian survivors of war who are rehabilitating in the Lviv Superhumans Center. “People rebuilding their bodies part by part, rebuilding themselves part by part, they rebuild the very idea of Ukraine - and they are rebuilding the country and the nation itself,” she told the professional audience.

The two festivals may run concurrently, but that is no hindrance to Polish docmakers who are out in force this year at both Ji.hlava IDFF and DOK Leipzig. Seven Polish productions have been selected for the Czech docfest, while eight projects are pitched in Leipzig, in addition to a basketful of selections in the festival program. (Still: Trains by Maciej J. Drygas)

Without silver, the 21st Century would be unrecognisable, such is its ubiquitous use across tech - from phones to electronics to AI. But it’s also the cause both of widespread exploitation and many deaths within the mines where it is sourced. In her feature doc, Natalia Koniarz follows the Indigenous folk of Potosi, Bolivia, who have worked these mines for 500 years. “Over 8 million people are believed to have died here since silver was discovered in 1545,” she tells BDE. “They were enslaved. They were forced.”

In The Beauty of the Donkey, which has its international premiere at Ji.hlava 2025, director Dea Gjinovci and her exiled father return to his razed village in Kosovo to recreate his childhood memories, alongside local townsfolk. “My film contemplates the traces left behind and asks: can they be woven back together? Often, what remains are the memories of those who survive—and how they pass them on,” Gjinovci tells BDE.

The Respekt Award for the best audiovisual reportage on a political or social topic – went to Černá práce (Black Work) from Czech Television’s Reportéři ČT series. The Documentary Book Award, presented for the fifth time, was handed to Petr Třešňák for his book Důstojnost (Dignity), while in the Short Joy category, the winning film is wedLOCK tradWIFE by Austrian director Gabriele Neudecker.

Some see OnlyFans as purveyors of “fair-trade” porn, allowing content creators control over their business from the safety of their home. Others see it as no less exploitative in its objectification of women than pornography has ever been. “It's consensual from both sides, so that's why we decided that we want to do it in a very observational way,” Czech producer Pavla Klimešová tells Business Doc Europe of her Ji.hlava opener Virtual Girlfriends. “We just wanted to shoot the situation and make the viewer make the decision about what they think.”

The 29th edition of Ji.hlava IDFF, the most important docfest within the CEE region and one of key staging posts within the global yearly calendar, kicks off October 24 with the world premiere of Virtual Girlfriends by Czech director Barbora Chalupová. The opening film may be Czech, but the festival is solidly international in outlook. “It is important for us to connect films from all over Europe in the program, to create a place where filmmakers from the North and South, as well as from the West and East, can meet,” festival director Marek Hovorka tells BDE.

Industry luminaries will determine winners across the Opus Bonum, First Lights, Testimonies, Czech Joy, Fascinations, Virtual Reality and Industry sections. The 29th Ji.hlava IDFF opens Friday October 24 with Virtual Girlfriends by Czech director Barbora Chalupová. The festival runs through to November 2.

Victoria Hely-Hutchinson’s deliciously paced Vacances is neither a reductive portrait of an old eccentric nor a sensationalist dissection of a dysfunctional family. Although either could probably have been edited from her material. Instead, we mostly find ourselves lounging languidly around a sunny villa in Provence, as the uninhibited, at times inexcusably rude, Granny dominates the proceedings. But at some point, something’s gotta give…