Eight ‘Docu Talents from the East’ documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe, planned for theatrical release during the upcoming 12 months, were presented August 18 as part of CineLink Industry Days at the Sarajevo Film Festival. Projects from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine made it to the final selection.
The Docu Talent Award was granted to the most promising project, Lithuanian-German-Latvian co-production Baltic UXO by directors Agnė Dovydaitytė and Alexander Belinski, produced by Dagnė Vildžiūnaitė. The award is accompanied with financial prize 5,000 USD in cooperation with the festival’s partner Current Time TV.
The citation reads: The jury were in full agreement about the qualities of this project – it looks very professional, featured beautiful cinematography, and seems to turn a hidden secret into a universal story. We can imagine the success of the planned impact campaign, connecting the film to contemporary conversations around environmentalism, militarism and the political decisions that happen without our knowledge.
The 3,000 EUR in-kind DAFilms.com Distribution Award was awarded to The Big Chief by Polish director Tomasz Wolski and produced by Anna Gawlita. The award covers the international VOD release on DAFilms.com (including Americas, Europe, Asia) for two years.
The citation reads: This project may look back to the past, but has the potential of a great modern thriller. It places in front of us a character who many will not know, and explores his controversial life through a wealth of archive footage. The creators seem to have a great idea of their story, and the audience for this film is clear both in cinemas and online.
Since 2005 Docu Talents, curated by the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, has been a launch pad for a number of documentaries by both renowned and emerging directors such as Laila Pakalniņa, Vladimir Mansky, Bartek Konopka, Piotr Stasik, Peter Kerekes, Dmitrii Kalashnikov and Helena Třeštíková. Films presented at Docu Talents in the past have had world and international premieres at major film festivals including in Cannes, Berlin, Locarno, Rotterdam and Sundance.
“Documentarians are pioneers in the world of filmmaking, often being the first to capture and present the most current reflections of our time. This year’s Docu Talents showcase, featuring a selection of the most intriguing upcoming films from Central and Eastern Europe, highlights themes that strongly resonate today—mental health, environmental concerns, and the impact of the war in Ukraine on neighboring countries,” says Marek Hovorka, director of the Ji.hlava IDFF.
Emerging Producers 2025 announced
During the event, the representatives of the Ji.hlava IDFF also revealed the names of the Emerging Producers 2025, the programme aimed at promoting talented European documentary film producers and provides them with a range of networking, educational and promotional support throughout the year. 17 European producers will be accompanied by a producer from Canada, which is the guest country of the 2025 Emerging Producers programme. The Emerging Producers programme consists of two workshops – taking place in Jihlava in October 2024 and during the Berlinale in February 2025.
The Emerging Producers 2025 are:
Vahagn Khachatryan / Armenia
Michal Sikora / Czech Republic
Danai Anagnostou / Finland
Elise Hug / France
Michael Kalb / Germany
Loránd Balázs Imre / Hungary
Zofia Kujawska / Poland
Daniel Pereira / Portugal
Elena Martín / Romania
Danilo Lazovic / Serbia
Monika Lošťáková / Slovakia
Zoran Dževerdanović / Slovenia
Miguel Eek Quesada / Spain
Ashley Smith / Sweden
Irene Muñoz Martin / Switzerland
Luiza Paiva / United Kingdom
Mariia Ponomarova / Ukraine / Netherlands
Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre / Guest country Canada
More information at www.ji-hlava.com and on the festival’s Facebook and Instagram profiles.
