Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival

Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival

Jihlava IDFF Logo
Location Jihlava, Czech Republic
Founded 1997
Awards Opus Bonum
No. of films 310 in 2016
Website www.ji-hlava.com

Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (Czech: Mezinárodní festival dokumentárních filmů Ji.hlava, in short MFDF Ji.hlava or Ji.hlava IDFF) is the largest festival of creative documentary film in Central and Eastern Europe. The festival is traditionally held in late October in Jihlava, Czech Republic. The 21st edition of the festival will take place between 24–29 October 2017.[1]

The last year's festival screenings were attended by more than 40,000 viewers, and the total number of 4,500 accredited visitors from 62 countries of the world attended the festival. More than 1,000 film professionals took part in the Ji.hlava Industry Programme, which includes projects such as Emerging Producers, Festival Identity or Conference Fascinations. In 2016, the festival presented 310 films.

The festival was founded in 1997 by a group of Jihlava high school students led by Marek Hovorka in charge, who has been the festival director ever since. From 2001 on, the festival has been organised by Jihlava Association of Amateur Filmmakers which was transformed in 2015 into DOC.DREAM - the Association for the Support of Documentary Cinema.

The festival's motto is "Thinking Through Film", the traditional symbol is a funnel.

Ji.hlava IDFF is a co-founder of Doc Alliance - a coalition of 7 key European documentary film festivals.

Programme

Competition Sections

The core of the festival consists of 7 competitions:

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

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
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

Non-competition Sections

Apart from the competitions sections, the festival annually presents a number of non-competition sections covering different areas of documentary film. The traditional non-competition sections are the following:

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.

Guests

In the past years a number of directors, film theorists, and historians attended the festival. Apart from the film professionals, Ji.hlava has also hosted various writers, artists or activists. They attend activities within the Ji.hlava Industry Programme (such as Inspiration Forum) or hold Masterclasses (non-competition section). Film world personalities have also been invited as members of the competition juries.

Other Activities

Ji.hlava IDFF organises various activities throughout the year. It closely cooperates with other six key European documentary film festivals within 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 the 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 active also in the publishing field (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 the theory and criticism of the 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 following programmes and platforms:

Year-round Activities

Apart from the festival itself, taking place in October, the Ji.hlava IDFF team organises various events during the whole year:

Educational Activities

Ji.hlava IDFF participates in number of educational activities:

References

  1. ↑ s.r.o., portadesign. "Úvod". Mezinárodní festival dokumentárních filmů Ji.hlava. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
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