“Three weeks before the start of the festival, we were still planning its offline version. We were expelled into the digital asylum after the closure of Czech cinemas. We are very happy to have managed to use the advantages of the Internet: our ‘traditional’ visitors wrote us that they had a unique chance to see more films at Ji.hlava than ever. And we also attracted new audiences. We are pleased to see that thanks to our daily live streams we created the community spirit and atmosphere of complicity so typical for Ji.hlava,” says Marek Hovorka highlighting the live festival service from the Ji.hlava Lighthouse, and adds: “The annual Industry Programme also took place online, with a record attendance by film professionals.”
24th Ji.hlava in (record-breaking) figures
This year’s 24th Ji.hlava IDFF issued 5933 accreditations – 10 percent more than last year. The number of both visitor and industry accreditations increased year-on-year, with half as many visitor passes issued than in the previous edition. This year’s 24th Ji.hlava IDFF welcomed 1461 film professionals – 20 percent more than last year, and 538 online bilateral meetings took place as part of the matchmaking service. 271 passes were issued to journalists. Overall, festival films registered over 56 thousand views. “Assuming that in one third of the cases the films were viewed by two people, we have reached almost 75,000 viewers. And in reality, the figures can be much higher,” says Marek Hovorka, the Festival Director. Live service on the festival YouTube channel from the Lighthouse studio, the Inspiration Forum programme and Ji.hlava for Kids registered almost 50 thousand views during the festival. The live stream from the festival Lighthouse on Facebook marked 150 thousand views. Inspiration Forum’s discussions on Facebook had 128 thousand views. Out of 310 screened films, 95 were shown in their world, 14 in European and 30 in international premiere. This year, films competed in 9 sections. 80 Q&As were scheduled after the film screenings.
The most watched films were: A New Shift and CoroNation
This year’s most popular film was A New Shift by Jindřich Andrš that was named the Best Czech Documentary of the 24th Ji.hlava IDFF also taking home the Audience Award and the Silver Eye Award. The film about a miner who completely changed his life at the age of fifty was the most watched film of this year’s Ji.hlava. The second most successful documentary was CoroNation by Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei capturing the life in Wuhan under lockdown. This year, Ai Weiwei accepted the Contribution to World Cinema Award. Once Upon a Time in Poland directed by Vít Klusák and Filip Remunda exploring the relationship of the Polish with God was also popular with the viewers, alongside with One Says No by Chinese director Dayong Zhao that captures the desperate fight of a man named Azhong against the brutal developer lobby to save his home. Among the most viewed films was also White on White by Viera Čákanyová, the winner in the Opus Bonum section, and Wolves at the Borders by Martin Páv that received a Special Mention in the Czech Joy section.
Inspiration Forum online: eleven days, twenty discussions
The tenth edition of the Ji.hlava discussion platform – the Inspiration Forum – took place online and explored six burning topics of today in twenty discussions over the eleven festival days. “Two live discussions were streamed daily, with eighty guest speakers featured from Czechia and from abroad,” says Inspiration Forum’s programmer Tereza Swadoschová and adds that the guest speakers “arrived” from fifteen countries. The live service had 3,800 views on YouTube, and 128 thousand views on Facebook. “Viewers were mostly interested in discussing Vietnam Stories about the second generation of Vietnamese that was already born in Czechia. Another popular discussion was Imagination at Scale about innovations in Africa and an interview with priest and Scout Marek Orko Vácha. Viewers also appreciated Data as the 21st Century’s Most Valuable Commodity about the power of technology giants trading with consumer data,” says Tereza Swadoschová. The Inspiration Forum focused on the following topics: “Equality in the Pews” (inequality in the Church), “Earth Work” (how to feed humankind without destroying the planet), “Cool Africa” (Africa as a continent with a potential for transformation), “In the Rhythm of Algorithms” (the influence of digital technology on human life), “Time Out” (dropping the crisis narrative) and “GPS at the Crossroads” (about the courage to go one’s own way). Recordings of the discussions are available on Facebook, YouTube and Inspiration Forum’s website.
JI.HLAVA FOR KIDS online: warm-up, plays, readings and workshops
The six-day stream of Ji.hlava for Kids offered a total of 36 programmes. The live stream for kids from Ji.hlava’s Dukla Cinema marked 11,500 views, with 2,100 unique viewers watching the programme. 37 guests appeared on the show. Kids were mainly keen to follow the morning warm-up with the Sokol instructors, theatre performances streamed from the Dukla Cinema (Annie and the Airplane – Kill Will, Studna Theatre – Proud Princess and Toy Machine – Circusarium) as well as Goodnight Tales. Tales from the World Around and a photography course were also greatly popular. Workshops were visited by a total of 91 kids. “The number of participants in the workshops was limited to allow for interaction,” said Šimon Bauer, Director at the Center for Documentary Film – the organizer of the programme for kids. “Ji.hlava for Kids was originally planned so that the stream will be presented by the kids themselves as part of one of the workshops. In the end, the adults had to take over due to the pandemic measures,” explains Šimon Bauer. “The online version of the workshops and the Ji.hlava for Kids stream were a success and we are already looking forward to next year. We have opened our doors to the online world that brings many challenges as well as opportunities. We intend to keep the online studio as part of the festival programme in the coming years.”
The success of the Industry Programme
The Industry Programme dedicated to film professionals offered 20 events. The online “Industry Ji.hlava” welcomed 1,461 guests. The festival again hosted the educational workshop Emerging Producers, Festival Identity and Conference Fascinations focusing on experimental film distribution. The Matchmaking Accelerator service was again very successful. Its aim is to connect filmmakers and producers with film festival organizers, distributors, and co-producers as well as other film professionals. Record-breaking 538 meetings took place online over the three days. “This year’s exceptional online edition defied all expectations. The matchmaking service was incredibly popular and I believe that this year’s Ji.hlava will foster unexpected collaborations and original documentary projects,” said Head of Industry, Jarmila Outratová.
Timeless Festival Catalogue
The novelty of this year’s festival edition is the printed catalogue that does not contain synopses of festival films but provides a visually impressive anthology of accompanying texts on film sections and thematic panels of the Inspiration Forum. “This year, we decided to produce a timeless festival catalogue. We focused on texts accompanying the retrospectives and inspiring readings relating to the topics and figures of the Inspiration Forum,” says Marek Hovorka about this year’s concept of the festival catalogue. The catalogue can be ordered via the festival website, and will be available at selected bookshops.
This year, the author of the festival spot is avant-garde filmmaker Mike Hoolboom. Before Hoolboom, the spot was created by the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Godfrey Reggio and Jóhann Jóhannsson.
The Jihlava IDFF was this year attended by 5,933 accredited visitors, including 1,461 film professionals and 270 journalists. 310 films were scheduled for screening in the programme. Overall, the festival films registered over 56 thousand views. The festival website registered 1,300,000 visits. The festival stream from the Lighthouse had 150 thousand views on Facebook and 46 thousand views on YouTube during the festival. 24th Ji.hlava IDFF took place on October 27 to November 8, 2020.
The 25th Ji.hlava IDFF will take place on October 26 to 31, 2021.
More information is available at www.ji-hlava.com and at the festival’s Facebook and Instagram.
Contact (trailers, stills, photos, interviews): Ji.hlava IDFF Press service (pressservice@ji hlava.cz)
Winners of the 24th Ji.hlava IDFF
OPUS BONUM
Best World Documentary Film 2020
Winner: White on White (Viera Čákanyová / Czech Republic, Slovakia, 2020)
Jury statement (sole juror Hilal Baydarov): For being a very honest, brave and inspirational film. The film shows us how difficult and almost impossible it is to make a film about oneself.
Special Mention: A Man Leaning (Olivier Dury, Marie-Violaine Brincard / France, 2020)
Jury statement (sole juror Hilal Baydarov): For its beautiful structure and well-performed editing that gives strong hints about the nature of cinema through beautiful rhythm and poetic signs.
BETWEEN THE SEAS
Best Documentary Film from Central and Eastern Europe
/The authors of the winning film also receive a financial prize of 10,000 EUR/ Winner: Latvian Coyote (Ivars Zviedris / Latvia, 2020)
Jury statement: For a sensitive approach to its well-chosen protagonists the Jury has decided to award the film that shows us a global and a well-known topic from a unique unconventional perspective which still allows the audience to get very close not only to the main protagonist but also to dive into the whole story. And all this is supported by the strong cinematic vision of the director.
Special Mention: LAST IMAGE (Judith Zdesar / Austria, 2020)
Jury statement: For its poetic aesthetics, in search of a sensory representation of a daily and familiar environment, and for its visual creation of a memory that permanently disappeared by bringing glimpses of light in a world of darkness.
BETWEEN THE SEAS – STUDENT COMPETITION
Best Student Documentary Film from Central and Eastern Europe 2020 /The authors of the winning film will receive a financial prize of 2,000 USD (in partnership with Current Time TV)/
Winner: Time Is (Zaur Kourazov / Belgium, Russia, 2020)
Jury statement: For a beautiful and minimalistic narrative approach with which director succeeds, by suspending time in a soothing atmosphere, to open multiple number of topics that unfold in the film and can be relevant not only for the Chechen society.
CZECH JOY
Best Czech Documentary Film 2020
/The authors of the winning film also receive a financial prize of 10,000 EUR/ Winner: A New Shift (Jindřich Andrš / Czech Republic, 2020)
Jury statement: The Czech Joy main award goes to Jindřích Andrš’s film New Shift portraying the life story of Tomáš Hisem, a laid-off miner from the Paskov Mine, who at 50 is trying to retrain as a computer programmer. As a careful and sensitive observation showing no prejudices or downplaying, the film allows us to get so close to the main protagonist and his environment that it changes not only us but also its author. Using the example of one person, the film expresses in exact terms the generally valid topics of center-periphery relations, existential struggle, work transformation and alienation in a neoliberal economy and individual adaptability in a world without a strong safety net. Tomorrow, anyone of us can be in the shoes of a Paskov Mine miner.
Special Mention: Wolves at the Borders (Martin Páv / Czech Republic, 2020)
Jury statement: Wolves at the Borders is a story of our personal boundaries, our shared fear of the unknown and of the possibility of losing our conquered territories where anyone can be the wolf. The strong environmental topic of irreversible ecosystem disruption blends with the unassuming format of a western set in the Broumov region with the author’s unbiased approach unveiling borders being delineated, crossed or shared in a process where even the losing side is a winner.
Student jury award: Jan Jedlička: Traces of a Landscape (Petr Záruba /Czech Republic, Italy, 2020)
Jury statement: We selected Petr Záruba’s film Traces of a Landscape: Jan Jedlička for its visual, sound and content integrity. The film leads the viewer in a self-effacing, modest and precise way. It is a sensitive symbiosis via the shared language of observation. It’s therefore sure to have a concentrated, almost intimate impact.
FIRST LIGHTS
Best Documentary Debut Film 2020
Winner: Ghosts: A Long Way Home (Tiago Siopa / Portugal, 2019 )
Jury statement: For magnificent cinematic style, for the immersiveness of spiritually enriching storytelling. A small-scale epic suggesting an entire mythological world. A fragile essay on a memory, on human roots, and on a moment in which presence is explicitly connected with the future and the past. Film as a free verse. Pure cinema.
Special Mention: A House (Judith Auffray / France, Switzerland, 2020)
Jury statement: We, who come to the house with director Judith Auffray, are soon enchanted — yet at the same time brutally deprived of the usual rhythms, automatic motions, and safe steps belonging to the familiar regime of our daily existence. We learn new rules, alternative rhythms, movements, we focus on the world differently. It becomes a dance.
Student jury award: A House (Judith Auffray / France, Switzerland, 2020)
Jury statement: House is a gentle observational documentary bringing us a natural glimpse into the specific world of a group of autistic persons. The jury appreciates the author’s human approach towards the portrayed topic and the trust that she has gained with her protagonist via her camera. The jury also commends the fact that the film is not trying to be an advocate for David, Zoey or Thomas but lets them speak for themselves. The result is a portrait of several exceptional individuals who are seen by the viewer as an integral part of the environment they are actively helping to maintain but also as fully-fledged human beings with their own eccentricities and history. The author’s craftsmanship also stands out with long shots revealing a surprising climax of the portrayed story.
FASCINATIONS
Best Experimental Documentary Film 2020
Winner: We Are Without (SJ. Ramir / Australia, New Zealand, 2020)
Jury statement: The jury has decided to award the shortest film of this section: SJ Ramir’s We Are Without. Despite the author’s signature high level of stylization and the use of conventional cinematic devices, this work unlocks in a simple sequence of several images a vast range of interpretations. The increasing desire to see the context, to materialize fragments of the story, to grasp the inner visual realm gives us a chance to see, in the gaps between archaistic shots, the offscreen-made film as contemporary, unique, precise and topical.
Special Mention: Baroque Femina (Nr. 7-11) (Péter Lichter / Hungary, 2020)
Jury statement: The jury’s special mention goes to Péter Lichter for his video-essay Baroque Femina (Nr. 7-11). The visually adventurous collage about today’s Hungarian collective unconscious sensitively and with admitted prejudices experiments with the politic reality of narrative frameworks.
FASCINATIONS: EXPRMNTL.CZ
Best Czech Experimental Documentary Film 2020
Winner: Catastrophe (Zbyněk Baladrán / Czech Republic, 2019)
Jury statement: The main jury award goes to Zbyněk Baladrán for his film Catastrophe. An established figure of Czech contemporary art, his systemic work is characterized by an ability to achieve, using simple and formally and stylistically pure devices, movements of thoughts which, instead of becoming illustrations of theoretical discourses, use visual shortcuts to connect audiences to lived reality and to its reflection in societal and individual memory.
Special Mention: Sparkly Shiny Brightly See, Kaleidoscope Grows from Ears (Tereza Chudáčková, Klára Ondračková / Czech Republic, 2020)
Jury statement: For its sensitive work with light, its narration indescribable in words and for its simplicity and non-speculative nature.
Special Mention: Nobody Needs to Know About This, He Said (Ester Grohová / Czech Republic, 2020)
Jury statement: For a bold approach to a personal topic without inclination to its ironization or non-transferable self-experiencing and for the not-so-obvious blending of the therapeutic layer with the artistic one.
SHORT JOY
Best Short Documentary Film 2020
Winner: First Birthday after the Apocalypse (Farah Hasanbegović / Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, 2020)
The winner was selected through the online platform, DAFilms.cz.
TESTIMONIES
Best testimony 2020
Winner: Oeconomia (Carmen Losmann / Germany, 2020)
Jury statement: Oeconomia presents a challenging topic for a documentary – the creation of money, profit and debt. The filmmaker managed to zoom in on the issue itself while also pointing at its creators – top bank and business managers who have no idea how the system they have created actually works. The jury also appreciates the cinematic qualities of the film which transforms the sterile rooms of financial institutions and industrial corporations into an impressive aesthetic experience reflecting how the elites are cut off from the life of ordinary people.
Special Mention: Vivos (Ai Weiwei / Germany, Mexico, 2020)
Jury statement: Vivos captures the intimate testimonies of people whose children and loved-ones were killed or seriously injured during a police massacre in the Mexican city of Iguala. The film gradually moves from a clear explanation of the massacre investigation process and from the affected families’ protest against the official version of events towards the vast context of international war against drugs and the impact of US policies on the ongoing violence against vulnerable communities in different parts of the world. The jury has also concluded that the film is a sensitive portrayal of the culture and daily life of local communities avoiding unnecessary exoticization.
CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA AWARD 2020
Ai Weiwei
AUDIENCE AWARD
A New Shift (Jindřich Andrš / Czech Republic, 2020)
BEST FESTIVAL POSTER
Audience Award: ANIFILM
Festival Identity Jury Award: Taiwan International Documentary Festival
SILVER EYE AWARDS 2020
(presented by the Institute of Documentary Film)
Silver Eye Award for the best feature documentary 2020
Winner: A New Shift (Jindřich Andrš / Czech Republic, 2020)
Jury statement: The 2020 Silver Eye award goes to a film which has not only captured our attention by addressing a very topical, burning topic, but also charmed us with its sensitive approach to the main protagonist and its own setting. Although he has dedicated several years of his life to the topic, and made both a short and a debut feature film about it, the filmmaker has not lost sight of the bigger picture and remained humble in his approach. We believe that the documentary is an excellent representation of Central and Eastern Europe and has a potential to resonate with audiences in the wider international context.
Silver Eye Award for the best short documentary 2020
Winner: Son of the Streets (Mohammed Almughanni / Poland, Lebanon, 2020)
Jury statement: How unwelcomed can you feel in this world? The director’s unique connection allows him to uncover the nature of Khodor’s crucial dilemma through in a tangible and memorable way. The intense film experience of a daily life in a camp will make a deep imprint in the viewers’ memory.
Special Mention: To Feather, to Wither (Hanna Hovitie / Hungary, 2020)
Jury statement: For exquisite directing, reviving the dead. The director created a fragile, poetic, portrait of a life cycle.” “For exquisite directing, reviving the dead. The director created a fragile, poetic, portrait of a life cycle.
PARTNERS and SPONSORS of the 24th Ji.hlava IDFF
Main Supporters
Ministry of Culture Czech Republic
Czech Film Fund
Creative Europe MEDIA
City of Jihlava
Vysočina Region
Supported by
EEA and Norway Grants
Korean Film Council
Embassy of the United States
European Commission Representation in the Czech Republic
Czech Centres
Embassy of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands Italian Cultural Institute
Austrian Cultural Forum
Goethe Institut
French Institute
Polish Institute
Romanian Cultural Institute
German Films
Delegation of Flanders in the Czech Republic Instituto Camões
Embassy of Denmark
Hungarian Institute Prague
Slovak Institute
Embassy of the State of Israel
State Culture Fund of the Czech Republic Jan Barta
General Media Partner
Czech Television
Main Media Partner
Czech Radio
Exclusive Media Partners
Aktuálně.cz
Respekt
Partners of Industry Section
Creative Europe MEDIA
Czech Film Fund
International Visegrad Fund
Ministry of Culture Czech Republic
Audiovisual Producers' Association
Statutory City of Jihlava
Central European Initiative
Creative Europe Desk CZ – Media
The Inspiration Forum Partners
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Prague Office Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Czech Republic Masaryk Democratic Academy
International Visegrad Fund
Diaconia ECCB – Centre of Relief and Development
Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom Slovak-Czech Women‘s Fund
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
Creative Europe Czech Desk
Hnutí DUHA – Friends of the Earth Czech Republic
The Czech Christian Academy Jihlava Respekt
Aktuálně.cz
Radio Wave
Partners of Ji.hlava Film Fund
UPP
Soundsquare
Center for Documentary Film
Co-organiser of the Industry Section
Institute of Documentary Film
Partner Project
Doc Alliance Films
Festival Partner
Czech Tourism
Regional Partners
CZ LOKO
Československá obchodní banka
Chesterton
Mitech
Sepos
College of Polytechnics Jihlava
WOOD-FOREST GROUP
Partner for Sustainable Mobility
Autonapůl –The first Czech Car Sharing
Official Shipping Partner
FedEx Express
Photo Partner
Nikon
Partner of VR Zone
Go360
Sorting Services Partner
EKO-KOM
Official Festival Beer
MadCat Brewery
Official Suppliers
Autocolor
AZ Translations
BIOFILMS
B.hm
Czc.cz
Dřevovýroba Podzimek
Fine Coffee
Husták
ICOM transport
Jeřáby Hanyš
KOMA Modular
Konica Minolta
Merch4U
M-Natural Jihlava
SÁRA
Sinch
Urbania
Kolby Winery
Partners of Ji.hlava for Kids
Baby Office
Bistro na tři tečky
BÖhm
ČT:D
Dětský lesnÍ klub Hájenka
DidaDiv
DIOD
Dům Gustava Mahlera
EKO-KOM
Husták
Paseka Coffee
Nikon School
Regional Gallery of the Vysočina region Robinson Family Theme Park
Semitam
Tělovýchovná jednota Sokol Jihlava VOŠG a SUŠG
Co-operations
Aerofilms
Bombus Energy
The Jihlava Public Transit Co.
DKO Jihlava
Edison Filmhub
Horácké Theatre Jihlava
Koníř
Třešť City
Milan Vyvadil
Newton Media
Prádelna a čistírna Jihlava Studio VOKO
and other co-workers
Media Partners
25fps
A2
Cinepur
Dějiny a současnost Film a doba
Iluminace
Radio 1
Regional Media Partners Jihlavská Drbna
Jihlavské listy
Hitrádio Vysočina
Náš region
Media Co-operations
7.G
ArtMap
ČSFD
Festival Guide
Flash Art
Full Moon
Heroine
HIS Voice
Host
Kult.cz
Nový prostor
Protišedi.cz
Revolver Revue
SNIP & CO
Foreign Media Partners
Business Doc Europe Cineuropa
Film New Europe
Kapitál
Kinečko
Kinema.sk
Kino Ikon
Modern Times Review Variety
