With over 1,300 film professionals in attendance every year, Ji.hlava IDFF is a key meeting place for the world doc industry and the most important documentary hub in Central and Eastern Europe, even for US doccers. Head of Industry Jarmila Outratová guides Business Doc Europe through a programme jam-packed with new projects, the promotion of new production talent and a major market for CEE documentary output.
This year’s Ji.hlava Industry Programme will focus once more on US documentaries through its second New Visions Forum: US Docs, which will showcase 10 projects at different stages. This financing and co-production event was launched last year when, as Industry Head Outratová explains, it was “impossible” for the US filmmakers to come to the Czech Republic.
“We thought it was a great opportunity to include them online. All the European projects [from New Visions Forum: Europe] were in Ji.hlava and the US docs were online. We thought that it works really well. It also saves our planet, not flying them [the US delegates] all the way from America,” Outratová explains why the online programme has been retained even after the pandemic.
Projects which passed through the inaugural edition have done well. For example, Fernanda Pessoa’s Swing and Swaywas the opening film at the Olhar de Cinema IFF in Brazil and went on to many other festivals including Sheffield and, recently, DOK Leipzig.
“The pitch preparation really helped us craft our presentation and understand the strengths of our film,” the director says of what she took from participating with her film [which she co-directed with Adriana Barbosa] in 2021.
Participants aren’t just pitching. They’re given online lectures and tutoring on how to present their projects from European industry experts, among them Cíntia Gil and Peter Jager.
“We did the research how other festivals are presenting US docs in their programmes and pitching forums. We realised there are no big platforms for these documentary films. That is basically the original idea – let’s make the connections between Europe and the US,” says Outratová.
This year’s New Visions Forum: Europe includes some very topical projects, for example Roman Blazhan’s chilling documentary Basement 341 which looks at how Russian troops imprisoned all the residents of a small Ukrainian village in a tiny school basement.
Norwegian Audun Amundsen’s Click The Link Below is about online financial wizards and their nefarious get rich quick schemes. Meanwhile, Prague-based Hypermarket Film’s latest feature doc The Great Nothing offers an in-depth look at the human stories behind the pandemic.
“As for the stages of the projects, it can be at development or in post-production,” Outratová says of the range of documentaries at different stages included in the selection. “We’ve also opened up the Forum market not only for documentary films but for any kind of visual projects. It can be VR projects or fiction films with a documentary aspect or series – anything you can think of…”
Producers are encouraged to apply with multiple projects.
“As I could see, and also from visiting other pitching forums, the projects are quite dark,” the industry boss notes of the types of documentaries currently being pitched. “[But] for our forum, we were really looking for a variety of projects, not to be focused on one topic or one region.”
Many festival directors from all over Europe will be at Ji.hlava – and will be taking part in discussions about Festival Identity and Ethics in Festival Programming. These debates have an added urgency because of the war in Ukraine. Programmers will additionally have the chance to look over the best new Czech docs which are showcased in the Czech Joy section.
Sales agents will also be in town, among them established outfits like the UK’s Taskovski Films and Swiss outfit, Lightdox. There will be some companies attending for the first time too, among them Ruth Films from Israel, and Al Jazeera will be coming to the festival for the first time.
Some high profile figures are on the industry juries. For example, Carlo Chatrian, artistic director of the Berlinale, is on the Ji.hlava New Visions Forum Jury. He and the other jurors will be deciding on the most promising European and US projects – and offering thousands of euros to the winner.
Outratová describes Emerging Producers, now in its 11th edition, as “the flagship” of the industry programme. Through the initiative, 18 promising producers are given the chance to take part in a training programme, held both in Jihlava and Berlin. They’re taught about everything from promotion to networking and how to navigate their way through film markets while finding potential financiers and co-producers for their projects. Nearly 200 producers have passed through the scheme so far.
Elsewhere in Jihlava, East Silver Market is a leading documentary market of 100+ films which supports producers and distributors from Central and East Europe. (The related East Silver Caravan promotes East European documentary films at important international film festivals and markets, the “nomad” showcase reaching over 190 prestigious international film festivals and markets.)
These are challenging times for Czech documentary producers. After Covid, local broadcasters aren’t investing heavily in docs. Uncertainty remains about HBO’s continuing commitment to documentary production in central and eastern Europe following restructuring at parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. That’s why Ji.hlava IDFF’s industry activities have such importance for the Czech documentary sector. One event which everyone will be focusing on is the presentation this weekend from Helena Bezděk Fraňková, Director of the Czech Film Fund. She will be explaining why the Fund is being rebranded as the Czech Audiovisual Fund – and industry attendees will also be hoping she has good news for Czech documentary makers.
