Ji.hlava director Marek Hovorka
Participants at Ji.hlava IDFF’s EMERGING PRODUCERS 2021 platform will brainstorm the opportunities thrown up in a post-Covid world in a public online discussion April 16. Meanwhile, the fest calls for ‘US Docs in the Spotlight’ projects and Central/Eastern Europe projects for Docu Talents from the East @Sarajevo FF.
“It would not be far from the truth if we say that Europe is endangered by colonization from the global streaming platforms. It is evident that European cinema needs new impulses and the pandemic provided us with an opportunity to stop and think about how to reshape it,” Ji.hlava boss Marek Hovorka (pictured) told Business Doc Europe ahead of an April 16 EMERGING PRODUCERS 2021 online ‘brainstorm’, which will be broadcast via Ji.hlava online channels (web, FB, YT), to be moderated by Domenico La Porta, Cineuropa’s editor-in-chief.
Event organisers stress how, “while the pandemic has severely hit the entire audiovisual sector and the situation remains critical in many places, this mess will end one day. We see the post-COVID world as an opportunity and we, therefore, invited the EMERGING PRODUCERS 2021 to brainstorm together and explore how to use pandemic as an accelerator of European cinema.”
Hovorka added: “I am convinced that it will be the new generation of talented European producers who will play an important role in this process [of reshaping European cinema]. It is time for Europe to strike back!”
Meanwhile Ji.hlava IDFF https://www.ji-hlava.com is opening a new call for US documentary films in production for the US Docs in the Spotlight programme. The deadline for submission is May 18. “The selected projects will be presented to European decision-makers at Ji.hlava in October. We invite U.S. filmmakers interested in getting connected with potential co-producers, distributors, sales representatives and film festivals from Europe to submit their projects… Selected U.S. filmmakers will also be invited to tailor-made activities focusing on European funding and distribution system, join the festival’s Matchmaking Accelerator and other Ji.hlava industry events,” continues the statement. Get more information here.
In addition the “most remarkable new documentary projects from Central and Eastern Europe” will be presented at the 17th edition of Docu Talents from the East @Sarajevo FF.
May 18 is deadline for submission of films at post-production stage (with a planned release in 2021/22). The selected projects will be presented online at the Sarajevo FF in August and the most promising work will be awarded a financial prize of 5,000 USD, in cooperation with Current Time TV.
Since its launch in 2005, the Docu Talents has presented over 150 projects, many of which have subsequently premiered and collected prizes at film festivals around the world.
