Preview of the industry programme

In three weeks, a rich variety of industry events will unfold as part of the 23rd Ji.hlava IDFF:

Emerging Producers 2020 – presentation of 17 up-and-coming documentary film producers from Europe and one from the guest country – Taiwan

Inspiration Forum – platform initiating new topics in documentary film and a source of inspiration for filmmakers

Festival Hub – unique showcase of world film festivals and other film events

Visegrad Accelerator – meeting of key personalities from the Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak film environments

Discussions and focused presentations for film professionals (Creative Europe – MEDIA programme, East-West Index, pitchings of new Czech documentaries, etc.)

Matchmaking Accelerator – a service that will connect you with other film professionals visiting Ji.hlava

Conference Fascinations – a conference on distribution of experimental documentary film, accompanied by a special retrospective of Ukrainian experimental cinema

Open programme of Ex Oriente workshop organised by the Institute of Documentary Film (IDF)

East Silver Market video library with hundreds of documentary titles from Central and Eastern Europe (IDF)

Masterclasses, panel discussions, presentations, industry drinks, and much more. Join over 1,100 film professionals expected to attend the 23rd edition of Ji.hlava IDFF between October 24–29, 2019.

Are you a film student? Then note that you can acquire a substantially discounted Early Bird industry accreditation until this Sunday!

First films revealed

Ji.hlava will see a special screening of documentary essay Communism by Karel Vachek, the classic of Czech cinema. The author’s ninth film that takes many hours and has four parts, maps out the contemporary Czech political scene, philosophy, religion and art. Other sections will offer the story of human relentlessness made by the Macedonian duo Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov, Honeyland, one of the winners of this year’s Sundance festival. The Canadian director team composed of Jennifer Baichwal, Nick de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky from Canada will bring to the audience Anthropocene: The Human Epoch in which the authors follow the effects of human activity on the planet’s ecosystem. The Brink by American director Alison Clayman shows the mentality of Steve Bannon, the right-wing populist and former strategist of president Trump. The full selection of the 23rd  Ji.hlava IDFF will be published at a press conference on October 8.

Tribute to Man Ray

As late as in the 1980s, Man Ray – American avant-gardist, a renowned photographer, painter and experimenter close to surrealism – was considered the author of only four films. This year, as part of his retrospective at Ji.hlava, you will have a chance to watch additional footage discovered in the estate of his partner, Ada Fidelin, that open the doors to Man Ray's private world. The exclusive screenings will include the dispute between Pablo Picasso and Paul Eluard during a palm-reading session and many other gems!

Erotica in experimental film

This year’s thematic section of the Conference Fascinations will focus on Erotica. Along with Man Ray, we will recall other classical authors such as Kenneth Anger, Carolee Schneeman and Peter Tscherkassky, as well as less-known authors whose works will for the first time ever be shown on the screen. The retrospective will show a range from pure visual joy inspired by the naked body to radical political manifestos.

Czech films look beyond the borders

The Czech Joy competition section will feature a diverse selection of documentaries. Barbora Berezňáková will present her debut Never Happened, which follows the leads in one large political and criminal case of the 1990s in Slovakia. Kiruna – A Brand New World by Czech-Swedish director Greta Stocklassa is a portrait of a town, which is to be moved away. The Sound Is Innocent by Johana Ožvold pays tribute to world’s electronic music and its development since 1950s until today.  Solo by the Czech-based French director and producer, Artemio Benki, follows the destiny of talented Argentinian piano player, Martín Perin, whose promising career was influenced by his long-term stay at a psychiatric clinic in Buenos Aires. The full selection of the 23 Ji.hlava IDFF will be published at a press conference on October 8.

Inspiration Forum will search for new topics for documentary films

The Ji.hlava’s Inspiration Forum, which annually offers space for discussion will host over 100 prominent guests from outside the film world. You can look forward to full six days dedicated to six particular topics, entitled God & co., The Changing Woman, Re:Democracy, How Not To Be Afraid,  Climageddon, and Made in China. This year's speakers include Dagestan-born novelist Alisa Ganieva, Croatian philosopher and political activist Srećko Horvat, writer and former US border patrol agent Fransisco Cantú, renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben, a former leading figure of German Neo-Nazi scene Christian Weissgerber, and Afghani writer and parliamentarian Fawzia Koofi. The full programme and list of guests will be announced on October 8.

Ex Oriente Film workshop with Niels Pagh Andersen and Audrius Stonys

Masterclasses and lectures by acclaimed documentary filmmakers will be open to the public at the Ex Oriente Film workshop in Jihlava (October 23-28). Editor Niels Pagh Andersen received numerous awards, and his editing credits include Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence and The Act of Killing, as well as Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow. Among other guests are director and cinematographer Erick Stoll, known for his award-winning América, and director and producer Audrius Stonys, whose Earth of the Blind got European Film Award.

The call launched in June for the fourth edition of Film +, the tailored support programme for low budget filmmaking, has closed with 73 entries from which 16 projects made the final line-up,  from four countries: 7 feature films, 5 short films and 4 documentaries.

European Parliament

17/09: Parliamentary leadership for the Digital Age – Parliament Magazine

MEPs will have to become more digitally literate than ever before if the EU is to maintain its digital leadership, writes Pilar del Castillo.

Digital Services Act

18/09: A Digital Roadmap for the next five years – Parliament Magazine

Europe’s policymakers should focus on encouraging tech firms and start-ups to be based here rather than seek confrontation, writes former ECR MEP Daniel Dalton

EU Terrorist Content Regulation

25/09: MEPs want internet firms to remove content promoting terrorism within an hour – European Parliament

On 24 September, Parliament's civil liberties committee backed the position agreed by the Parliament before May's European elections on new EU rules to tackle the dissemination of online content promoting terrorism and approved the mandate to begin discussions with EU ministers.

European Commission

10/09: How Parliament votes the European Commission into office (infographic) – European Parliament

MEPs will assess whether commissioner candidates can deliver on the challenges facing the EU in a series of public hearings.

27/09: Answers from Commissioners-designate to Parliament’s written questions – European Parliament

The Commissioners-designates’ answers to the written questions, posed by the Parliament’s committees, were received by Parliament.

27/09: Monday's commissioner hearings: Šefčovič, Hogan, Gabriel - European Parliament

Maroš Šefčovič (Slovakia), Phil Hogan (Ireland) and Mariya Gabriel (Bulgaria) are the first candidate commissioners who appeared in hearings at the Parliament on Monday 30 September.

Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU

26/09: High-level conference on gender equality: Finland wants to integrate gender equality more closely with The EU’s economic policy – eu2019.fi

Finland organised a high-level gender equality conference in Helsinki from 30 September to 1 October 2019 in the context of Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The aim of the conference was to increase the dialogue between gender equality policy and economic policy and to strengthen gender equality in the EU’s decision-making.

Sustainability

20/09: Circular Plastics Alliance: 100+ signatories commit to use 10 million tons of recycled plastic in new products by 2025 - European Commission  

The declaration lays out how the alliance will reach the target of 10 million tons of recycled plastic used to make new products every year in Europe, by 2025. This target was set by the European Commission in its 2018 Plastics Strategy, as part of its efforts to boost plastics recycling in Europe.

Federation of European Film and TV Directors (FERA)

Members of the Federation of European Film and TV Directors (FERA) from 27 countries gathered in Bucharest, Romania on September 20 to 22nd for its annual General Assembly.

Events

8 October: Commissioner-designate Margrethe Vestager hearing (ITRE/IMCO/ECON), Brussels
30 September: Trilogue, Creative Europe Programme
30 September: Extraordinary JURI Committee meeting, Brussels
1 October: CULT Committee meeting, Brussels
8 October: IMCO Committee meeting, Brussels
15 October: First copyright stakeholder meeting
16 October: CICI lunch w/ Sabine Verheyen & EPP MEPs, Brussels
17 October: ITRE Committee meeting, Brussels
1 November: European Commission comes into office
4 November: UNIC/Europa Distribution/FERA/FIAD Screening, Brussels
5-6 November: Voices of Culture Structured Dialogue on Gender Balance in the Cultural & Creative Sectors Dialogue Meeting with the European Commission, Brussels

The Krakow Film Festival is one of the oldest and the most recognised events in the world, dedicated to documentary, animated and short feature films. During the eight festival days, the viewers have a chance to watch about 250 films from Poland and from around the world.

We are waiting for submissions of documentary, animated and short films to the three international competitions: for documentary films, for short films, to the DocFilmMusic competition presenting music documentaries, as well as to the national competition for Polish films.

The Krakow Film Festival is included in the prestigious list of film events qualifying for the Academy Awards in the short film category (feature film, animated film, documentary film) and feature-length documentary film category, and also recommends the films to the European Film Awards in the same categories. 

Submit your film FILL IN THE FORM
The rules of submitting a film RULES AND REGULATIONS

The 59th Krakow Film Festival will take place on May 31 – June 7, 2020

Follow our news on the website and in the social media: Facebook, Twitter i Instagram.

Guests include co-workers of Wes Anderson and Tim Burton.

On 8-12 October Łódź will become a meeting place for creative industries focused around the film. All thanks to the ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum - the world's only industry event dedicated to stop motion and puppet animation. Five days filled with masterclasses, consultations, presentations of final projects that will compete for attractive prizes and workshops with outstanding artists who work Wes Anderson or Tim Burton on a daily basis. Producers, distributors and artists will exchange experiences and get to know the city of Łódź. The aim of the event is to integrate the artistic and business environment and promote the growing market of stop motion animation among potential investors. 

As the originators and organizers of the event say, the puppet animation and stop motion market today is experiencing a growing interest in the world from both creators and environments related to financing of the film art.– It seems that after years of fascination with the ideal digital productions of large film studios, there is a clear shift towards a different form, created by the human hand, and thus naturally closer to us. It is clear that this is part of a broader trend that inevitably includes film art.–says Paulina Zacharek from MOMAKIN, the ANIMARKT organizing entity, which deals with complex and professional support for the creation of animated films on a daily basis, from planning and financing through production to distribution.

- At ANIMARKT, we focus on meetings and integration of the industry. Beginners have the opportunity to learn the secrets of the work of professionals, ask about issues related to the implementation of projects, consult their ideas with experts. We connect people who work in animation so that they can find more opportunities to implement their projects, and are inspired by what they see and hear - adds Zacharek.

What are the features of this year’s edition?

For beginners

The program of this year's edition includes three program sections. ANIMARKT Masters is a series of events addressed to students and artists taking their first steps in the world of animation. Workshops with experienced professionals and practitioners will focus on animation directing, character animation and the art of cinematography. The workshopswill be conducted, among others, by Barry JC Purves - Oscar and BAFTA nominee, who’s been dealing with stop-motion animation for 40 years, Juan Soto - animator of international productions such asMissing Link or My Life as a Courgette and Malcolm Hadley - cinematographer who worked on such productions as Isle of Dogs and Frankenweenie.

For those with the idea

ANIMARKT Pitching is a great opportunity to present your puppet short film project to an international jury and attract partners for its realization. It is also a chance to win valuable prizes that will help in the realization of the film. The finalists will compete for vouchers worth PLN 60,000 and PLN 40,000 to use the CeTA studio (Audiovisual Technology Center in Wrocław) and its facilities for film production, or the APALAB award - a two-week residence in the Quirino Cristiani Animation Centre in Cordoba (Argentina), devoted to screenwriting and project development. It is worth mentioning that the film Daughter by Daria Kaasheva, which took part in Pitching 2017, was recently nominated for a Student Academy Award. This year's finalists include three projects by Polish artists. The full list of ANIMARKT Pitching 2019 participants is available here: http://en.animarkt.pl/pitching/selected-projects/

For business

The new part of the programme - ANIMARKT Business - is entirely devoted to the consolidation and development of the animation industry. This section was created to enable making new contacts and promote cooperation. The programme of this section includes a series of consultations "Ask the Expert", which is an opportunity to discuss one's own project and ask professionals for advice. During this year’s edition you can present your ideas to producers, distributors, animators, scriptdoctors or representatives of financial institutions. Meet experts such as Luce Grosjean of Miyu Distribution, who was in charge of distribution of Oscar-nominated Negative Space and Garden Party, Corinne Destombes – head of development at Folimage, one of the most important animation studios in France, Tim Allen – an animator whose portfolio includes such great stop motion productions as Isle of Dogs, Fantastic Mr Fox, Corpse Bride, and  Sophie Prigent – a representative of an international distributor of animated series sold to major tv stations and such platforms as Netflix and Amazon.

The programme also includes the only meeting in this part of Europe, during which the recruitment of animators and costume designers for the world-famous LAIKA studio from the USA will be held.

ANIMARKT is also a series of accompanying events addressed to professionals, as well as animation lovers. They include film screenings and business breakfasts. Admission to all ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum events is free of charge, but due to the limited number of places, some of them require prior registration. The full programme is available athttp://en.animarkt.pl/

The ANIMART Stop Motion Forum is organized by MOMAKIN – an organisation dealing with the popularization of animation, as well as supporting its creators in Poland and internationally through comprehensive activities in the field of production, distribution, promotion and education. 

ANIMARKT is organised thanks to the co-financing from the International Visegrad Fund, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund and the Polish Film Institute. More info is available at www.animarkt.pl

The main partner of the event is EC1 Łódź - City of Culture and Łódź Film Commission. All the events of the fourth edition of ANIMARKT will take place in the EC1 complex, which is located in the redeveloped buildings of the first commercial power plant in Łódź, which was established in 1907 and operated until 2000. Currently it is an open space for various cultural and scientific activities, which is the seat of the EC1 Science and Technology Centre, the National Centre for Film Culture, the Łódź Film Commission and the Centre for Comics and Interactive Narration.

Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) supports the participation of Spanish artists Juan Soto, Paloma Mora, Jose Luis Farias, Bea Bartolomé and Carlos Bleycherin the Project through the Programme for the Internationalisation of Spanish Culture (PICE), in the framework of the Mobility grants.