Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival


Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, known as MFDF Ji.hlava or Ji.hlava IDFF, is a documentary film festival in Jihlava, Czech Republic, normally held in late October. The 23rd edition of the festival will run from 24 to 29 October 2019.
The 2018 festival was attended by over 40,000 visitors from over 80 countries. More than 1,000 film professionals took part in the Ji.hlava Industry Programme, which includes projects such as Emerging Producers, Festival Identity and Conference Fascinations. In 2018, the festival presented 327 films in eight screening halls.
The festival was founded in 1997 by a group of Jihlava high school students led by Marek Hovorka, who has been the director of the festival since then. Since 2001, the festival has been organised by the Jihlava Association of Amateur Filmmakers, which in 2015 was renamed DOC.DREAM - the Association for the Support of Documentary Cinema. Ji.hlava IDFF is a co-founder of Doc Alliance, a coalition of seven large European documentary film festivals.
The festival's motto is "Thinking Through Film".

Programme

Competition sections

The main festival consists of 7 competitions:
The festival annually nominates one film to be added to the pre-selection for the European Film Academy award for Best Documentary Film of the Year. Also, the winners of the Short Joy award are eligible for the pre-selection for the Documentary Short Subject category of the Academy Awards.
YearFilm titleDirectorCountry of origin
2007731: Two Versions of HellJames T. HongChina, United States, Taiwan
2008Iraqi Short FilmsMauro AndrizziArgentina
2009BassidjiTamadon MehranIran, Switzerland, France
201048Susana de Sousa DiasPortugal
2011Lost LandPierre-Yves VanderweerdBelgium
2012KuichisanMaiko EndoJapan, United States
2013The UprisingPeter SnowdonBelgium, United Kingdom
2014I Am the PeopleAnna RoussillonFrance
2015Dead Slow AheadMauro HerceSpain, France
2016Spectres are haunting EuropeMaria Kourkouta, Niki GiannariFrance, Greece
2017The WallDmitry BogoluboviRussia, Russia
2018VacancyAlexandra Kandy Longuet   Belgium

Non-competition sections

Alongside the competitions sections, the festival presents a number of non-competition sections covering different areas of documentary film. The regular non-competition sections are:
Another feature of the festival is its accompanying programme, comprising thematic exhibitions, awards for the best festival poster, music and theatre performances, authors' readings, radio documentaries and documentary theatre plays or a special Laboratorium installation.

Other activities

Ji.hlava IDFF organises various activities throughout the year. It works closely with six other European documentary film festivals through the Doc Alliance, whose Doc Alliance Films website, devoted to documentary and experimental movie online distribution, is an original project of the festival. It also participates in DOC.STREAM projects for film professionals, Eastern European documentary East Silver Market, and, in collaboration with the Czech Institute of Documentary Film, the Ex Oriente Film project.
DOC.DREAM, the organiser of the festival, is also a publisher and runs the online dok.revue portal, dedicated to theory and criticism of documentary film.

Ji.hlava Industry Programme

Ji.hlava Industry Programme encompasses activities focused on film professionals and has been a significant part of the festival for the past sixteen years. The section includes:
Apart from the festival itself, which takes place in October, the Ji.hlava IDFF team organises various events at other times of the year:
Ji.hlava IDFF participates in a number of educational activities: