Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival

Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (Czech: Mezinárodní festival dokumentárních filmů Ji.hlava), known as MFDF Ji.hlava or Ji.hlava IDFF, is a documentary film festival in Jihlava, Czech Republic, normally held in late October. The 25th edition of the festival will run from 26 to 31 October 2021.[1]

Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
Jihlava IDFF Logo
LocationJihlava, Czech Republic
Founded1997
AwardsOpus Bonum
No. of films327 in 2018
Websitewww.ji-hlava.com

The 2018 festival was attended by over 40,000 visitors from over 80 countries.[2] More than 1,000 film professionals took part in the Ji.hlava Industry Programme, which includes projects such as Emerging Producers, Festival Identity,[3] and Conference Fascinations.[4] In 2020, the festival presented 325 films.

The festival was founded in 1997 by a group of Jihlava high school students led by Marek Hovorka, who has been the director of the festival since then. Since 2001, the festival has been organised by the Jihlava Association of Amateur Filmmakers, which in 2015 was renamed DOC.DREAM - the Association for the Support of Documentary Cinema.[5] Ji.hlava IDFF is a co-founder of Doc Alliance, a coalition of seven large European documentary film festivals.

The festival's motto is "Thinking Through Film".

Programme

Competition sections

The main festival consists of 7 competitions:

  • Opus Bonum - Best World Documentary Film
  • Between the Seas - Best Central and Eastern European Documentary Film
  • Between the Seas Student Film Competition - Best Central and Eastern European Student Documentary Film
  • Czech Joy - Best Czech Documentary Film
  • First Lights - Best Debut Documentary Film
  • Fascinations - Best World Experimental Documentary Film
  • Fascinations: Exprmntl.cz - Best Czech Experimental Documentary Film
  • Short Joy - Best Short Documentary Film
  • Thematic competition section: Testimony - on politics, on nature and on knowledge - is an international competition for best documentary with historical and political cross-over, on ecological and environmental topic or documentary that expands the non-fiction genre.

The festival annually nominates one film to be added to the pre-selection for the European Film Academy (EFA) award for Best Documentary Film of the Year. Also, the winners of the Short Joy award are eligible for the pre-selection for the Documentary Short Subject category of the Academy Awards.

Opus Bonum Award for Best World Documentary Film
Year Film title Director Country of origin
2007 731: Two Versions of Hell James T. Hong China, United States, Taiwan
2008 Iraqi Short Films Mauro Andrizzi Argentina
2009 Bassidji Tamadon Mehran Iran, Switzerland, France
2010 48 Susana de Sousa Dias Portugal
2011 Lost Land Pierre-Yves Vanderweerd Belgium
2012 Kuichisan Maiko Endo Japan, United States
2013 The Uprising Peter Snowdon Belgium, United Kingdom
2014 I Am the People Anna Roussillon France
2015 Dead Slow Ahead Mauro Herce Spain, France
2016 Spectres are haunting Europe Maria Kourkouta, Niki Giannari France, Greece
2017 The Wall Dmitry Bogolubovi Russia, Russia
2018 Vacancy Alexandra Kandy Longuet    Belgium
2019 Fonja Lina Zacher and collective Madagascar, Germany
2020 White on White Viera Čákanyová Slovakia, Czech Republic
Between the Seas Award for Best Central and Eastern European Documentary Film
Year Film title Director Country of origin
2003 66 Seasons Peter Kerekes Slovakia
2003 Sentiment Tomáš Hejtmánek Czechia
2004 The Ring Angus Reid Slovenia
2005 Snail Fortress Deszo Zsigmond Hungary
2006 All day together Marcin Koszalka Poland
2007 Artel Simon Semtov, Sergei Loznitsa Russia
2008 The Flower Bridge Thomas Ciulei Romania, Germany
2009 Border Jaroslav Vojtek Slovakia
2010 Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu Andrei Ujica Romania
2011 Bakhmaro Salomé Jashi Georgia, Germany
2012 Mirage Srdan Keca United Kingdom, Serbia
2013 Winter / Miracle Gustavo Beck, Zeljka Sukova Croatia, Denmark, Brazil
2014 We Come As Friends Hubert Sauper France, Austria
2015 Under the Sun Vitaly Mansky Czechia, Russia, Germany, North Korea
2016 The Dazzling Light of Sunset Salomé Jashi Georgia, Germany
2017 Opera About Poland Piotr Stasik Poland
2018 Timebox Nora Agapi Romania
2019 TEACH Alex Brendea Romania
2020 Latvian Coyote Ivars Zviedris Latvia

Non-competition sections

Alongside the competitions sections, the festival presents a number of non-competition sections covering different areas of documentary film. The regular non-competition sections are:

Accompanying programme

Another feature of the festival is its accompanying programme, comprising thematic exhibitions, awards for the best festival poster, music and theatre performances, authors' readings, radio documentaries and documentary theatre plays or a special Laboratorium installation.

Other activities

Ji.hlava IDFF organises various activities throughout the year. It works closely with six other European documentary film festivals through the Doc Alliance, whose Doc Alliance Films website, devoted to documentary and experimental movie online distribution, is an original project of the festival. It also participates in DOC.STREAM projects for film professionals, Eastern European documentary East Silver Market, and, in collaboration with the Czech Institute of Documentary Film, the Ex Oriente Film project.

DOC.DREAM, the organiser of the festival, is also a publisher (e.g. Bill Nichols: Introduction to Documentary; Guy Gauthier: Le Documentaire, un autre cinéma; Karel Vachek: The Theory of Matter; David Čeněk: Chris Marker) and runs the online dok.revue portal, dedicated to theory and criticism of documentary film.

Ji.hlava Industry Programme

Ji.hlava Industry Programme encompasses activities focused on film professionals and has been a significant part of the festival for the past sixteen years. The section includes:

  • Emerging Producers - an educational and networking project promoting European documentary film producers
  • Docu Talents From the East - a panel showcasing creative documentary projects from Central and Eastern Europe in the production or post-production phase, held annually since 2004. It has been organized in cooperation with Sarajevo Film Festival since 2017.
  • Festival Identity - a meeting and knowledge exchange of film festival organisers
  • Inspiration Forum - a platform bringing together documentary film directors with personalities from outside the film community such as scientists, writers, artists, activists, and philosophers
  • Conference Fascinations - a conference focusing on experimental film distribution
  • Visegrad Accelerator - a platform for meeting of Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak film professionals, state institutions and media representatives

Year-round Activities

Apart from the festival itself, which takes place in October, the Ji.hlava IDFF team organises various events at other times of the year:

  • Echoes of Ji.hlava IDFF - festival echoes take place in the Czech Republic and other European countries
  • Documentary Mondays - regular documentary film screenings with the film-makers present, taking place in the Prague art cinema Světozor
  • Living Cinema - summer screenings of selected Czech documentary films, taking place in unconventional locations in Jihlava and Prague
  • Czech Joy in Czech Cinemas - distribution of selected Czech documentary films in Czech and Slovak cinemas

Educational Activities

Ji.hlava IDFF participates in a number of educational activities:

  • Center for Documentary Film - a creative space in Jihlava Dukla cinema dedicated to the study of documentary cinematography
  • Media & Documentary - a workshop for film science and journalism students focused on writing about documentary film, taking place during the Ji.hlava IDFF

References
  1. "Úvod". Mezinárodní festival dokumentárních filmů Ji.hlava. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  2. "22nd Ji.hlava IDFF is over. Long live Ji.hlava IDFF!". Mezinárodní festival dokumentárních filmů Ji.hlava. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
  3. "Festival Identity". Mezinárodní festival dokumentárních filmů Ji.hlava.
  4. "Conference Fascinations". Mezinárodní festival dokumentárních filmů Ji.hlava.
  5. "DOC.DREAM – Association for the Support of Documentary Cinema". DOKweb.
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