Visegrad Accelerator

Visegrad Accelerator is aimed at interconnecting professionals from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. Over the last ten years, Visegrad Accelerator has become a respected platform, which initiates and expands various film activities in the Visegrad framework. Ji.hlava IDFF – the leading documentary film event in the Central and Eastern Europe – has become a birth place of creative initiatives and meetings of film professionals, critics, film festivals’ and film institutions’ representatives from Central European countries.

Ji.hlava IDFF has always emphasized the idea of Visegrad cooperation – creating space for promotion and support of Visegrad national cinemas. It has become one of the most important meeting points where Czech, Slovak, Hungarian and Polish film professionals meet, present their work and develop future collaborations among themselves as well as with other documentary film professionals from around the world.

Visegrad Accelerator is a platform for film professionals from Visegrad countries within the Ji.hlava Industry Programme and aims to discover and support new talents from Central Europe, introduce them to the international industry community and thus accelerate their creative growth. It creates a unique environment where V4 filmmakers can initiate and develop their documentary projects (Inspiration Forum & Ji.hlava New Visions Forum & Co-production Market), present their producer’s vision and develop European co-productions (Emerging Producers), share experience (Festival Identity) and discuss their needs and know-how (V4 Panels and Conference on Ethics in Documentary Film) – all in a relaxed, creative and non-competitive Ji.hlava environment.

Apart from the activities taking place at the Ji.hlava IDFF, we help the V4 filmmakers in introducing their most remarkable upcoming films to the international audiences (Docu Talents from the East at Sarajevo FF).

The partners of the Visegrad Accelerator in 2022 were:

● Doc-Air (Czech Republic)
● Slovak Film Institute (Slovakia)
● Wladyslaw Slesicki Film Foundation (Poland)
● Hungarian Documentary Association (Hungary)
● The Center for Modern Information Techniques and Visual Arts (Ukraine)
● Obala Art Centar / Sarajevo Film Festival (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
● International Documentary Film Festival Beldocs (Serbia)

 

VISEGRAD ACCELERATOR PROGRAM IN 2023

Docu Talents from the East 2023
Aug 12–14, 2023

Selected V4 projects were presented by the directors and producers to the decision-makers attending the Cinelink Industry Days at Sarajevo Film Festival on August 12–14, 2023. The presentations on August 13 were followed by one-to-one meetings of the presenters with sales agents and festival representatives.

Participants of the Docu Talents from V4 countries:

Chronicle (Letopis) / Czech Republic, Slovakia / dir. Martin Kollar
Runa / Poland, Denmark / dir. Agnieszka Zwiefka
80 Angry Journalists / Hungary, Germany / dir. András Földes, Anna Kiss
Havel Speaking, Can You Hear Me? (Tady Havel, slyšíte mě?) / Czech Republic / dir. Petr Jančárek

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Visegrad panel discussion: Reality and virtual worlds in the V4 countries
Oct 26, 2023
5:00 – 6:30 PM

Works in various realities, whether augmented (AR), virtual (VR) or mixed (MR) have been created in our countries for almost a decade. Besides the entertainment or gaming aspect, they can also have an educational purpose, exploring the lived world and themes of the present or the past in a spatial mode of expression and with interactive elements. The panel discussion will focus on the relationship between reality and virtual representation in various forms, with an emphasis on the educational function and the didactic, educational and artistic possibilities of these formats.

Speakers:
Vojtěch Radakulan / Czech Republic
Bujdosó Gyöngyi / Hungary
panelists from Poland and Slovakia TBC

Moderator:
Andrea Slováková / Slovakia

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Inspiration Forum 2023
Oct 24–29, 2023

The Inspiration Forum discussion platform is an opportunity to discover new perspectives, intensify dialogue and raise new questions about the contemporary world. This year's event will take place between October 24 and 29 and will focus on on five contemporary and crucial topics: food, water, space, artificial intelligence, and communities.

Speakers of the Inspiration Forum from Visegrad countries:
Veronika Ambrozy / non-formal educator / Czech Republic
Šárka Homfray / lawyer / Czech Republic
Václav Hradilek / hydrologist / Czech Republic
Lukáš Likavčan / philosopher / Slovakia
Lucie Ráčková / anthropologist / Czech Republic
Jan Sowa / sociologist / Poland
Kateřina Šedá / artist / Czech Republic
Táňa Zabloudilová / journalist / Czech Republic
and others

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Ji.hlava New Visions Forum & Co-production Market
Oct 26–27, 2023

New documentary projects in development and production from the V4 countries will be presented at the Forum and included in the Market. After the presentations, the presenters will be included in the Matchmaking service. The event directly helps the filmmakers to improve their projects, establish new co-productions and secure future presence at festivals across the world.

Projects in the Ji.hlava New Visions Forum TBA in October.

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EMERGING PRODUCERS 2024 from V4 countries
Oct 24–29, 2023

This flagship project of Ji.hlava helps the up-and-coming documentary film producers from V4 in their growth and sparks their collaboration. This is the only programme of the kind focused on documentary film producers, and has direct results in the form of future joint film co-productions and personal growth of its participants. A respected educational and promotional workshop, which takes place in Jihlava in October 2023 and Berlin in February 2024.

Veronika Janatková / Czech Republic
Rita Balogh / Hungary
Adrianna Rędzia / Poland
Matej Sotník / Slovakia

Public presentation of the Emerging Producers 2024
Oct 25, 2023
19:30 - 21:00

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Festival Identity
Oct 25, 2023

The Festival identity workshop for the representatives of film festivals is a unique hub for the exchange of know-how among film festival representatives, where they start collaborations and coordinate their plans.

Participants of the Festival Identity from Visegrad countries:
Tomáš Hudák / Bratislava Industry Days / Slovakia
Anna Kořínek / Karlovy Vary IFF / Czech Republic
Monika Lošťáková / Febiofest / Slovakia
Péter Muszatics / CINEFEST - MISKOLC INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL of Young Filmmakers / Hungary
Tomáš Poštulka / One World IDFF / Czech Republic
Krzysztof Sienkiewicz / ZUBROFFKA International Short Film Festival / Poland
Ewa Szablowska / New Horizons IFF / Poland
and others

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Conference of Ethics in Documentary Film
Oct 26, 2023

An innovative platform for discussion on ethical questions related to the production and reception of documentary films. Its purpose is to spark dialogue on crucial ethical issues in filmmaking and stimulate research by establishing a new space for discussion between academics and professionals in filmmaking and beyond (film and media studies, social sciences, history, postcolonial studies, archival studies, etc.).

Participants from V4 countries:
Vojtěch Boháč / journalist / Czech Republic
Zdeněk Chaloupka / producer / Czech Republic
Peter Forgacs / media artist / Hungary
Alica Heráková / journalist / Slovakia
Dariusz Kowalski / filmmaker / Poland
Lucie Králová / director / Czech Republic
Vera Lacková / director / Slovakia
Andrea Slováková / media theorist / Slovakia
Marek Šulík / screenwriter / Czech Republic
and others

 

Visegrad Accelerator is supported by the International Visegrad Fund.