Ethics in Documentary Filmmaking
The Conference on Ethics in Documentary Filmmaking is an open platform that brings together academics, professionals, and creatives from across various fields, as well as the general public. The Conference's goal is to spark dialogue on key ethical issues in documentary filmmaking and to create space for domestic research that bridges practice and theory. It opens discussions on the relationships between the filmmaker, protagonist, audience, and film, and formulates a set of questions within film practice that it seeks to answer through interactive dialogue. At its core, lies a fundamental and crucial question: what does ethics mean in documentary film?
Ethics in documentary film is not a marginal topic - it is the core of responsible creation. The conference provides a space for sharing experiences, doubts, and questions that accompany working with reality, people, and images. Filmmakers, academics, and the public meet here to reflect together on what it means to be a fair, sensitive, and conscious documentary filmmaker in today’s world. Film is, therefore, not just built on an image – it is built on relationships.
Ethical Dilemmas in Documentary Practice
We open a discussion on the responsibility of filmmakers, their relationships with protagonists, and the boundaries between art and intervention in reality.
Connecting Perspectives
We bring together academics, filmmakers, producers, and the public to encourage collective reflection on ethics in film.
Creating Space for Research and Exchange
We foster systematic reflection on ethics in the Central European context and explore new forms of collaboration between theory and practice.
Whose Story Is It? (2026)
The fifth edition of the conference, which will take place on October 29, is titled "Whose Story Is It?" and will focus on questions of voice, power, representation, and responsibility in documentary film and contemporary audiovisual culture. We are interested in who has the opportunity to tell their own story, who tells it on behalf of others, under what conditions, and with what ethical implications.
Conference proceedings
Conference proceedings are a compilation of papers from each year’s conference. These publications offer a theoretical reflection on specific topics related to ethics in documentary film. They present a curated collection of academic papers, practical experiences, and case studies.
Previous editions
Creative Control and Authorship in the Age of AI (2025)
Čtvrtý ročník se věnoval tomu, jak umělá inteligence proměňuje autorství, tvůrčí kontrolu a odpovědnost a co její využívání znamená pro důvěryhodnost a autenticitu dokumentárního filmu.
Accountability for Topic (2024)
Třetí ročník zkoumal, kdo a jak rozhoduje o tématech dokumentárních filmů, od jednotlivých tvůrců přes produkce a média až po politické a ekonomické vlivy, které formují veřejnou debatu.
Documentaries of Time: How to Make the Absent Present (2023)
Druhý ročník se zabýval prací s materiály, které filmaři sami nenatočili (archivními záběry, found footage či domácími videi) a etickými otázkami jejich využívání a nového zasazování do kontextu.
Power and Power Relations in Documentary Film (2022)
První ročník otevřel otázku moci v dokumentární tvorbě: mezi tvůrci a protagonisty, uvnitř filmových profesí i ve vztahu k institucím, které ovlivňují vznik, podobu a obsah filmů.
The conference is organized by the Ji.hlava IDFF in conjunction with FAMU.
The event is part of the Visegrad Accelerator.
The conference is organised with the support of the Czech Audiovisual Fund and the Creative Europe Desk – MEDIA Office
 |
 |
Media partners
 |
 |
 |
 |
Kontakt Ji.hlava Industry
JARMILA OUTRATOVÁ
Head of Industry Office
jarmila@ji-hlava.cz
