The world premiere of Jakub Felcman’s documentary Jaroslav Kučera A Journal will open the 23rd Ji.hlava IDFF on Thursday evening. This poetic intimate portrait of one of the most original cinematographers of the Czechoslovak New Wave (Kučera is behind films such as All Good Countrymen, Daisies and Diamonds of the Night) is composed of a footage captured by Kučera in his free time for private purposes as he was testing his methods and visual tricks later used in his films. The screening will be a tribute to Jaroslav Kučera and his wife Věra Chytilová who would both celebrate their 90th anniversary this year.
Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei designed this year’s Ji.hlava awards
Ai Weiwei is not only a prominent figure of the art world, but also an activist and a filmmaker. We introduced Ai Weiwei’s film work back in 2012 when he was held under house arrest by the Chinese régime. But Weiwei's work of art is also very diverse, excelling in sculptural and architectural realizations, as well as connecting ordinary people with art and art with politics, in which he stubbornly reintroduces social and human rights themes. We are proud to announce that the awards for the winners of the Ji.hlava IDFF were designed by Ai Weiwei. The design of the awards will be presented at the festival’s opening ceremony on Thursday.
Film professionals are heading to Ji.hlava's Industry programme
Dozens of industry events, which are targeted primarily at over 1,100 attending film professionals, will take place during the upcoming Ji.hlava IDFF. Besides the time-tested formats such as Festival Identity, Conference Fascinations, Inspiration Forum, Visegrad Accelerator and East Silver Market (organised by the Institute of Documentary Film), the Industry programme will include the 2nd edition of Ji.hlava Academy, an extended Matchmaking service (book your meetings now!) and a number of topical debates and conferences. Download the Industry brochure and make your plans for Ji.hlava.
Meet the EMERGING PRODUCERS 2020
For the eighth time, we introduce the up-and-coming generation of European producers of documentary films. Since the start of the project seven years ago, many of Jihlava's EMERGING PRODUCERS have become established in the film world and received prizes at major film festivals around the globe. We now proudly present the eighteen EMERGING PRODUCERS 2020: Vincent Metzinger (Belgium), Rea Rajčić (Croatia), Jitka Kotrlová (Czech Republic), Puk Eisenhardt (Denmark), Jean-Baptiste Fribourg (France), Tekla Machavariani (Georgia), Angelos Stavros Rallis (Greece), Patricia Dintino (Hungary), Roberto Cavallini (Italy), Giedrė Burokaitė (Lithuania), Łukasz Długołęcki (Poland), Mircian Lazar (Romania), Tomáš Krupa (Slovakia), Irene M. Borrego (Spain), Angela Bravo (Sweden), Yulia Serdyukova (Ukraine), Fawzia Mahmood (United Kingdom) and Yin-Yu Huang (guest country 2020 – Taiwan). Find more details about this year's EMERGING PRODUCERS here.
Studio 89 marking the 30th anniversary of the revolution
Thirty years after the fall of the Communist regime in former Czechoslovakia, we have come up with a special program section entitled Studio 89. Three different programmes will offer a look on the figure of Václav Havel, an intellectual icon of political transformation: Czech Underground films, a portrait made by Juraj Herz which has never been released in the Czech Republic, and a preview of an upcoming film by Petr Jančárek about Havel’s final years. The section also includes films that explore conspiracy theories or unique footage of the revolution captured directly at Prague’s FAMU.
