Once again this year, the festival is about more than just films. Its accompanying programme explores contemporary thought and culture in all their diversity, bringing together theatre, music, spoken word, podcasts, Czech Radio’s audio scene, and other formats that create space for shared experiences and encounters.

Music Programme

From rap to folk, from shoegaze to punk, from the dance floor to listening beneath the river’s surface — this year’s music programme explores the many forms contemporary music can take.

The programme spans rap, club electronics, indie pop, shoegaze, punk, folk, ambient, improvisation, and experimental sound. It brings together established names from the local scene and projects exploring new ways of listening to, sharing, and experiencing music.

The programme opens with Prague rapper Anki, whose raw lyrics explore identity, life on the margins, social class, and personal transformation. His audiovisual performance combines music with hypnotic projections that move between pixel art, glitch aesthetics, and analogue noise. He will be joined by Athena Chlebová, who fuses rap with drum ’n’ bass and techno, pairing self-deprecating lyrics with environmental themes.

The guitar-driven side of the programme features Prague-based Eternity Again, whose blend of shoegaze, indie, and noise rock unfolds through dense layers of sound, samples, and melancholic atmospheres. Vole bring an intense punk energy somewhere between hardcore punk and noise rock, while Vellocet Roll combine post-punk, art rock, krautrock rhythms, and psychedelia.

At the intersection of songwriting, experimental music, and intimate expression are Bolka, known for experimental compositions and whimsical love songs, and Léto s Monikou, the project of composer and producer Monika Omerzu Midriaková. Her music moves between delicate singer-songwriter sensibilities and darker, denser sonic textures. Her new album, Cítiť to všetko naraz, captures a world where conflicting emotions can coexist.

The North Platform offers a collective approach to folk, with an ever-changing line-up built around a wealth of voices and the enduring power of traditional songs. Václav Havelka will perform songs from his new, internationally acclaimed album, A Snake Crawling Up A Broken Ladder, in an intimate solo performance.

A prominent experimental strand of the programme comes from Aldana Duoraan & Tomáš Niesner. Their collaboration brings together the traditional Yakut instrument khomus and acoustic guitar, drawing on American primitivism to create meditative, hypnotic, ever-evolving compositions from their new album Plot.

The line-up also includes Jihlava-based TK, Hrnečku Vař, Too Much Morricone, Bíťák Aleš, Folkáč Johy, klaus x mečiar, DJ René Verlaine, and a range of club and dance sets that will take the festival from the concert stage straight to the dance floor.

And the music doesn’t have to be experienced from a stage. Tomáš Šenkyřík invites visitors into the surrounding landscape for a sound walk along the Jihlava River, exploring field recordings, human and non-human sounds, and how the soundscape shifts in response to biodiversity, climate, and human activity.

Theatre Programme

This year’s theatre programme presents two distinct approaches to contemporary performance.

On October 27, the festival will present K Sobě a production created by eighteen young people aged 16–21 under the direction of Anna Klimešová and Petr Erbes. Together, they explore the theme of self-worth. The collectively developed script weaves their voices and experiences into a mosaic of a generation searching for its place in the world.

On October 28, the programme continues with Standartní kabaret (Standard Cabaret), performed by the VOSTO5 – an evening of exaggeration, improvisation, and their unmistakable sense of humour.

Spoken Word, Czech Radio’s Audio Stage and a Nikon Exhibition

The accompanying programme also expands into spoken word and other forms of storytelling, listening, and collective reflection. Visitors can look forward to live podcasts, Czech Radio’s audio stage, and formats exploring interviews, storytelling, and sound.

The programme will also feature Petr Juračka’s traditional exhibition on the town square, accompanied by a lecture from Jiří Linhart on how a photographer gets up close and personal with well-known actors, actresses, and directors.