Ten outstanding documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe, planned for theatrical release during the upcoming 12 months – the Docu Talents from the East – were presented yesterday at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
Projects from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine made it to the final selection of Docu Talents from the East 2018.
The Docu Talent Award was newly granted to the most promising projects. The international jury selected two winners: An absurd tragicomical Ukrainian-Belarussian documentary placed in today’s Crimea My Granny from Mars directed by Alexandar Mihalkovich and produced by Volia Chajkouskaya, and an intimate artistic documentary film Birthday directed and produced by Hilal Baydarov from Azerbaijan. The awards are accompanied with financial prize 2,500 USD for each project, in cooperation with the festival’s partner Current Time TV.
The jury gave the following statements:
“For a choice of charismatic protagonists, treated in a highly cinematic way, and for the sense of absurdity in a difficult and unstable environment.”
(My Granny from Mars)
“To a new voice that reveals a pure sense of time, by capturing the universal nature of reality.”
(Birthday)
Since 2005, Docu Talents 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 had world and international premieres at major film festivals including in Cannes, Berlin, Locarno and Rotterdam.
“Jean-Luc Godard, director of this year´s Ji.hlava festival trailer, once said what is even more relevant today: "All great fiction films resemble documentaries, just as all great documentary films tend towards fiction." This is one of the reasons why documentary cinema has been so powerful, inspiring and subversive in the last decade. We are happy to present through the Docu Talents selection ten promising and internationally mostly undiscovered young filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe, which is a region with strong documentary tradition and a great potential to be discovered through their original films”, says Marek Hovorka, director of the Ji.hlava IDFF and curator of Docu Talents.
EMERGING PRODUCERS 2019 WERE ANNOUNCED
During the event, the representatives of the Ji.hlava IDFF also revealed the names of the Emerging Producers 2019. This unique programme aims 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 Chile, which is the guest country of the 2019 Emerging Producers programme. The Emerging Producers programme will consists of two workshops – taking place in Jihlava in October 2018 and during the Berlinale 2019.
JI.HLAVA AWARDS WITH FINANCIAL PRIZES
The awarded film in the Between the Seas category for the best Central and Eastern European documentary film will receive a financial award 10,000 EUR. The same amount will be granted to the winner of the Czech Joy competition section for the best Czech documentary film at the 22nd Ji.hlava IDFF, taking place on October 25-30, 2018.
The festival organisers also announced the new Between the Seas student film competition, which is connected with the prize of 3,500 USD (main award) and 1,500 USD (special mention). The award will be accorded in cooperation with Current Time TV.
Film submissions (rough-cut versions) to the 22nd Ji.hlava IDFF are open until August 25, 2018.
For more information, please contact:
René Kubášek
International Communication | Ji.hlava IDFF This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
