Ji.hlava '23

Set against the stunning backdrop of Kyrgyzstan’s vast plains, Janyl Jusupjan’s ironically titled feature doc follows the enterprising and warm-hearted Atirkül as she attempts to carve a place for herself in the intensely masculine traditional team sport of buzkashi, in which horse-riders battle to steal the trophy - in the form of a dead goat - from the rival team of riders, all the time on horseback.

The Ji.hlava New Visions Forum: Europe & U.S. Docs Awards (ten in total) were handed out 27 October as doors closed on this year’s Industry event. Additionally, the festival announced the creation of the Ji.hlava/JB Films co-production project. Next year, up to €110,000 will be distributed to creative documentaries from the region of Central and Eastern Europe.

Czech filmmaker Petr Jančárek is not apologetic about his huge admiration for former President Václav Havel (1936-2011), the subject of his new feature documentary, Havel Speaking, Can You Hear Me?, which opens this year’s Ji.hlava IDFF. “It’s actually true that Havel is perceived differently abroad than at home. Czech society is quite sharply divided between his admirers and those who actually hate him - literally,” the director tells BDE.

The terrifying ordeal suffered by young Czech woman Martina Putova, who was doused in acid by her ex-boyfriend, causing third-degree burns to the upper half of her body and almost complete blindness, is told with moving bluntness in Jarmila Štuková’s powerful documentary, which screened in Czech Competition.

Ji.hlava Industry (Oct 25-29) is gearing up for another four days of pitching, networking and deal-making as 1300 professionals descend upon on the historic Czech town. “We want to be the melting pot for people from across the whole of Europe - north, south, east and west,” says Jarmila Outratová, Head of Industry. Not to mention the cohort of US producers who once again will present their new doc projects during the Ji.hlava’s New Visions Forum.

Ji.hlava IDFF unveiled its winning films October 29. Photophobia by Ivan Ostrochovský and Pavol Pekarčík took home the Best Czech Doc Award, while the Opus Bonum Award for Best World Doc went to Elvis Lenić's Ship from Croatia. Maia Gattás Vargas, the Argentine director, was honoured for her original approach, and Hungarian director Béla Tarr received recognition for his contribution to world cinema.

The new short film, directed by Dutch filmmakers Jefta Varwijk and Jaap van Heusden, focuses on paramedic Louis who recounts a series of horrific and traumatic events experienced in the line of duty over the course of 23 years. It is a film that demonstrates more graphically than most how, once seen, some things just cannot be unseen. “These are images that are etched into their retinas or etched into their souls,” Varwijk tells Business Doc Europe.

The leading Czech docfest invites submissions from “diverse audiovisual formats” such as fiction with documentary aspects, hybrid, experimental, short films, docu and web series, cinema expanded projects, games with documentary aspects, as well as VR+AR+Live documentaries. Cash awards are on offer for the most promising projects. The deadline for applications August 15.

A clever balance between magical realism and formal fly-on-the-wall documentary, Ivan Ostrochovský and Pavol Pekarčík’s striking Photophobia is an examination of life within Ukraine’s Kharkiv metro, where men, women and children live a strange underground existence as they escape the bombardment of the city.

This year’s Ji.hlava IDFF is primarily dedicated to women, the Czech festival announced September 13, with topics such as female physicality and sexuality, ageing, friendship, childbirth, coming to terms with motherhood, sexual violence, and the effort to break free from gender roles running through the programme. Special guests include Claire Simon and Naomi Kawase. The festival also presents a Marguerite Duras retrospective.