20.06.2023

The visual of the 27th Ji.hlava mirrors the world around us

“This year’s Ji.hlava visual is absolutely documentary,” says festival director Marek Hovorka. “It connects the old with the new. It refers to calligraphy, an art that is six thousand years old, and at the same time works with the principle of mirroring. Its all-silver surface reflects the world around, including those who look at it. It thus links tradition with the present, much like the Ji.hlava IDFF, which presents retrospectives of important authors as well as the latest films by filmmakers from all over the world.”

The author of the poster is the award-winning book graphic designer and illustrator Juraj Horváth. A traditional part of the festival is the "festival of thinking” Inspiration Forum, which this year will focus on food and sustainability. The most affordable Early Bird accreditations will be on sale until 30 June, this year for 700 crowns (appx. 30 EUR).

The Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival will take place this year from 24 to 29 October in Jihlava and will then be online for 14 days. "We have been intensively searching for the most interesting documentaries from literally all over the world for several months now and we are looking forward to presenting them to the audience. This year, we will completely change the booking system at the festival, which will make it easier to plan screenings. We are doing everything we can to make this year's edition inspiring and surprising and at the same time enjoyable and comfortable for its visitors," adds Hovorka.

The author of the visual, Juraj Horváth is also the author of the traditional “poster poem”.

Poster poem

Juraj Horváth

Go outside
And look carefully
Evaporating slowly
Messages from the sidewalk
Brushes swaying in the wind
That tears leaves from the trees
And tarpaulins from scaffolding
Traces of tanks
Braking cars
Hellish machines
Stuck in the mud
It’s seemingly calm around here
Tune the string
And make a sound
You'll ripple the silver surface
And in the underground
Twists
A giant animal
Fluffing up
And sending
Upwards
Its ambassadors
Sprouting messages

Ji.hlava collects recipes this year

And what else will this year's Ji.hlava bring? Food! Prepared from local autumn recipes which the festival will receive from its fans. Ji.hlava will then share the selected recipes on social media, feature them in the upcoming festival cookbook and cook them for festivalgoers. The authors of the selected recipes will receive free accreditations to this year's festival.

The Inspiration Forum, Ji.hlava’s discussion platform, will invite the audience into the kitchen. "Food is something that unites us all. It is a necessity for us and can be a great joy," says Tereza Swadoschová, the forum's leader. "We want to use it to connect people with nature, with heritage, to discover lost sustainable practices." That's why the Inspiration Forum will also offer a cooking show and is preparing a cookbook for which anyone can recommend their recipes or favourite ingredients. "The availability of traditional foods is changing rapidly: biodiversity loss, freshwater scarcity, soil degradation and a wetter and stormier climate are increasingly threatening global food security. Our current diets are dying out. That's why we'll be looking at where food comes from, how it's grown and what stories it tells," concludes Swadoschová.

The 27th Ji.hlava IDFF will take place on 24-29 October 2023, a discounted Early Bird pass for CZK 700 (Ji.hlava physically + Ji.hlava online) can be purchased until 30 June. It is also possible to pay more for the accreditation and support the Ji.hlava IDFF.

More photos here