05.05.2021 One of the leading European documentary film festivals, the Czech Republic’s Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, has announced a new call for U.S. filmmakers – U.S.DOCS IN THE SPOTLIGHT.
„The aim of this new initiative is to encourage and support U.S. and European documentary co-productions. In the European context, Ji.hlava decided to become the first platform, which would effectively connect the U.S. documentary filmmakers with the potential co-producers, distributors, sales representatives and film festivals from Europe,“ says Marek Hovorka, director of Ji.hlava IDFF.
The U.S. filmmakers can submit their feature and mid-length documentary films in development, production or postproduction until May 18. The selected projects will be presented to European decision-makers during the 25th Ji.hlava IDFF (October 26–31, 2021) and the U.S. filmmakers will also be invited to tailor-made activities focusing on European funding and distribution system, join the festival’s Matchmaking Accelerator and other Ji.hlava industry events.
“We primarily look for films made with creative artistic approach. They do not need to be shot in Europe but the expected impact of the film should reach beyond the U.S.A.”, says Jarmila Outratová, head of Ji.hlava’s Industry section.
The projects will be selected by June 30, 2021. Their presentation will take place online on October 26–31 during the 25th Ji.hlava IDFF, and will be made accessible to over 1,200 industry professionals and decision makers attending the event. The 25th Ji.hlava IDFF is expected to take place in a hybrid form combining online and offline features.
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The Ji.hlava IDFF is a co-founding member of Doc Alliance network (CPH:DOX, Doclisboa, Docs Against Gravity FF, DOK Leipzig, FIDMarseille, Ji.hlava IDFF, Visions du Réel) and is behind the leading documentary VoD platform dafilms.com. Ji.hlava Industry programme includes acclaimed projects such as EMERGING PRODUCERS workshop or DOCU TALENTS FROM THE EAST presentations.
09.03.2021 The Echoes of the 24th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival will kick off online this Thursday for audiences in the Czech Republic. Selected films will then be available also to viewers in Belgium, France and New York. This year’s Ji.hlava documentary spring will offer award-winning films, discussions with filmmakers and masterclasses. The Echoes are held in partnership with Czech Centers network.
“The global pandemic put a spoke in the wheels of the filmmaking world: cinemas remain closed, producers put off film shooting and many festivals have months-long delays. This is also why are launching our Echoes already in the springtime – we want to give documentary film fans and filmmakers a chance to connect”, says Ji.hlava IDFF director Marek Hovorka.
You can find more info in the press release below.
10.11.2020 The 24th edition of the annual Ji.hlava IDFF closed its doors. This year, the festival was unique in that it was held online and attracted more audience than in the previous editions. The festival programme presented 310 films and over 80 discussions with filmmakers. 5933 accreditations were issued for visitors, guests and journalists. The total views of festival films exceeded 56 thousand.
“Assuming that in one third of the cases the films were viewed by two people, we have reached almost 75,000 viewers. And in reality, the figures can be even much higher,” says Marek Hovorka, the Festival Director. The festival website registered over 1,300,000 visits during the festival days. Ji.hlava online offered 6 all-day live streams from the Ji.hlava Lighthouse and 20 live discussions of the Inspiration Forum. The online festival took place in partnership with DAFilms.cz – a VOD platform founded 15 years ago by the Ji.hlava IDFF.
“Three weeks before the start of the festival, we were still planning its offline version. We were expelled into the digital asylum after the closure of Czech cinemas. We are very happy to have managed to use the advantages of the Internet: our ‘traditional’ visitors wrote us that they had a unique chance to see more films at Ji.hlava than ever. And we also attracted new audiences. We are pleased to see that thanks to our daily live streams we created the community spirit and atmosphere of complicity so typical for Ji.hlava,” says Marek Hovorka highlighting the live festival service from the Ji.hlava Lighthouse, and adds: “The annual Industry Programme also took place online, with a record attendance by film professionals.”
24th Ji.hlava in (record-breaking) figures
This year’s 24th Ji.hlava IDFF issued 5933 accreditations – 10 percent more than last year. The number of both visitor and industry accreditations increased year-on-year, with half as many visitor passes issued than in the previous edition. This year’s 24th Ji.hlava IDFF welcomed 1461 film professionals – 20 percent more than last year, and 538 online bilateral meetings took place as part of the matchmaking service. 271 passes were issued to journalists. Overall, festival films registered over 56 thousand views. “Assuming that in one third of the cases the films were viewed by two people, we have reached almost 75,000 viewers. And in reality, the figures can be much higher,” says Marek Hovorka, the Festival Director. Live service on the festival YouTube channel from the Lighthouse studio, the Inspiration Forum programme and Ji.hlava for Kids registered almost 50 thousand views during the festival. The live stream from the festival Lighthouse on Facebook marked 150 thousand views. Inspiration Forum’s discussions on Facebook had 128 thousand views. Out of 310 screened films, 95 were shown in their world, 14 in European and 30 in international premiere. This year, films competed in 9 sections. 80 Q&As were scheduled after the film screenings.
You can find more info in press release below.
