Ji.hlava IDFF announced October 20 the line-up of jury members for its 29th edition running October 24 to November 2. The festival opens with Virtual Girlfriends by Czech director Barbora Chalupová.
The Opus Bonum Award jury consists of Georgian producer Tekla Machavariani, Berlin-based film critic Jessica Kiang, British researcher and film director Dominic Lees, Serbian producer and director Ognjen Glavonić, and Czech director Jana Ševčíková.
The First Lights competition jury features Slovak film director and screenwriter Mira Fornay, U.S. curator and writer Rachael Rakes, and Belgian film curator Juliette Duret.
The Testimonies jury comprises Canadian-Palestinian medical doctor and peace activist Izzeldin Abuelaish, cross-media film editor and media artist Szilvia Ruszev, and Czech sociologist Ondřej Lánský.
The Czech Joy award will be decided by Slovak cinematographer Simona Weisslechner, cultural sociologist Ludmila Dobrovolná Wladyniak, theatre dramaturg Ilona Smejkalová, and film directors Aleš Suk and Tomáš Hlaváček.
The traditional Fascinations family jury consists of Swiss curator Patrick Huber, artist Christine Koch, and Jil Charlotte Koch, a student of visual communication in Bern.
The award for the Best Virtual Reality Project will be decided on by Czech game studies scholar Tereza Fousek Krobová, Italian philosopher Luca Marchetti, and Tate Modern curator Valentine Umansky.
Finally, the Industry Jury is composed of Bosnian film curator Rada Šešić, Danish film consultant and journalist Tue Steen Müller, and U.S. producer Chris White.
As previously announced, Ji.hlava IDFF will this year offer 340 films in both competition and non-competition sections, of which 129 in the world premiere, 23 in the international premiere and 11 in the European premiere.
“The programme of Ji.hlava shows the extraordinary power of documentary film. Documentary filmmakers replace the literalness of reality with playfulness and originality of thought. They show us the world as we could hardly see it ourselves – unless, like them, we would like to spend long years with a camera in those places,” says festival director Marek Hovorka. “Dialogue has been important to Ji.hlava since its beginning, so of course the screenings will be followed by talks. I am delighted that the audience will be able to meet many filmmakers in person, including Kirsten Johnson, Tsai Ming-liang, Roberto Minervini, Andrei Ujică and Albert Serra.”
