Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní festival dokumentárních filmů Ji.hlava), known as MFDF Ji.hlava or Ji.hlava IDFF, is a
documentary film festival
Documentary film festivals are film festivals devoted solely to documentary film, which is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality.
Although "documentary film" originall ...
in
Jihlava
Jihlava (; german: Iglau) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 50,000 inhabitants. Jihlava is the capital of the Vysočina Region, situated on the Jihlava River on the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia.
Historically, Jihlava ...
,
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, normally held in late October. The 25th edition of the festival will run from 26 to 31 October 2021.
The 2018 festival was attended by over 40,000 visitors from over 80 countries. More than 1,000 film professionals took part in the Ji.hlava Industry Programme, which includes projects such as
Emerging Producers, Festival Identity, and Conference Fascinations. In 2020, the festival presented 325 films.
The festival was founded in 1997 by a group of Jihlava high school students led by Marek Hovorka, who has been the director of the festival since then. Since 2001, the festival has been organised by the Jihlava Association of Amateur Filmmakers, which in 2015 was renamed DOC.DREAM - the Association for the Support of Documentary Cinema.
Ji.hlava IDFF is a co-founder of
Doc Alliance, a coalition of seven large European documentary film festivals.
The festival's motto is "Thinking Through Film".
Programme
Competition sections
The main festival consists of 7 competitions:
* Opus Bonum - Best World Documentary Film
* Between the Seas - Best Central and Eastern European Documentary Film
*Between the Seas Student Film Competition - Best Central and Eastern European Student Documentary Film
* Czech Joy - Best Czech Documentary Film
* First Lights - Best Debut Documentary Film
* Fascinations - Best World Experimental Documentary Film
* Fascinations: Exprmntl.cz - Best Czech Experimental Documentary Film
* Short Joy - Best Short Documentary Film
* Thematic competition section: Testimony - on politics, on nature and on knowledge - is an international competition for best documentary with historical and political cross-over, on ecological and environmental topic or documentary that expands the non-fiction genre.
The festival annually nominates one film to be added to the pre-selection for the
European Film Academy
The European Film Academy is an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988.
The Academy—under the name of European Cinema Soc ...
(EFA) award for Best Documentary Film of the Year. Also, the winners of the Short Joy award are eligible for the pre-selection for the
Documentary Short Subject category of the
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
.
Non-competition sections
Alongside the competitions sections, the festival presents a number of non-competition sections covering different areas of documentary film. The regular non-competition sections are:
* Reality TV - a section focusing on new television formats and current cross-genre forms, such as
docudrama,
docusoap
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
,
reality show or
mockumentary
A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary.
These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...
* Czech Television Documentaries - an overview of the documentaries produced by
Czech Television
* FAMU Presents - a presentation of work by students of the
(FAMU)
* Translucent Beings - a section presenting works by key personalities in the history of documentary films
* Transparent Landscape - a cross-section of the documentaries of particular countries
* Constellations - a selection of notable world films from other film festivals
* Conference Fascinations - a long-term program that uses experimental films to introduce retrospective topics related to Central and Eastern Europe
* Siren Test - explore today’s international music documentary and experimentation
* Doc Alliance Selection - Doc Alliance Selection Award is an award given by the independen
Doc Alliance platform associating 7 European documentary festivals
CPH:DOXMillenium Docs Against Gravity FFDoclisboaDOK LeipzigFIDMarseilleMFDF Ji.hlava
Visions du Réel
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.
Other activities
Ji.hlava IDFF organises various activities throughout the year. It works closely with six other European documentary film festivals through the 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 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 also a publisher (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 theory and criticism of 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:
* Emerging Producers - an educational and networking project promoting European documentary film producers
* Docu Talents From the East - a panel showcasing creative documentary projects from Central and Eastern Europe in the production or post-production phase, held annually since 2004. It has been organized in cooperation with Sarajevo Film Festival since 2017.
* Festival Identity - a meeting and knowledge exchange of film festival organisers
* Inspiration Forum - a platform bringing together documentary film directors with personalities from outside the film community such as scientists, writers, artists, activists, and philosophers
* Conference Fascinations - a conference focusing on experimental film distribution
* Visegrad Accelerator - a platform for meeting of Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak film professionals, state institutions and media representatives
Year-round Activities
Apart from the festival itself, which takes place in October, the Ji.hlava IDFF team organises various events at other times of the year:
* Echoes of Ji.hlava IDFF - festival echoes take place in the Czech Republic and other European countries
* Documentary Mondays - regular documentary film screenings with the film-makers present, taking place in the Prague art cinema Světozor
* Living Cinema - summer screenings of selected Czech documentary films, taking place in unconventional locations in Jihlava
Jihlava (; german: Iglau) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 50,000 inhabitants. Jihlava is the capital of the Vysočina Region, situated on the Jihlava River on the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia.
Historically, Jihlava ...
and Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
* Czech Joy in Czech Cinemas - distribution of selected Czech documentary films in Czech and Slovak cinemas
Educational Activities
Ji.hlava IDFF participates in a number of educational activities:
* Center for Documentary Film - a creative space in Jihlava
Jihlava (; german: Iglau) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 50,000 inhabitants. Jihlava is the capital of the Vysočina Region, situated on the Jihlava River on the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia.
Historically, Jihlava ...
Dukla cinema dedicated to the study of documentary cinematography
* Media & Documentary - a workshop for film science and journalism students focused on writing about documentary film, taking place during the Ji.hlava IDFF
References
External links
http://www.ji-hlava.com/
- official website
*http://www.ji-hlava.com/tiskove-zpravy/vitezove-22-ji-hlavy-uzamceny-svet-i-volny-pokoj - 2018 press release
*https://variety.com/2018/film/spotlight/ji-hlava-docu-festival-focuses-on-emerging-producers-1203006449/ - Emerging Producers
*http://www.dokrevue.com/ - festival blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
Documentary film festivals in the Czech Republic
Film festivals established in 1997
October events
1997 establishments in the Czech Republic