19th Jihlava IDFF, Press Release, Oct 31, 2015
19th Jihlava IDFF Knows its Winners
In six festival days, the 19th edition of Jihlava IDFF attracted over 3,500 accredited
festival visitors, screened more than 250 films, accompanied by 44 additional events
and over 35 open programme events for film professionals.
233 film titles out of more than 3,400 submitted films have been shortlisted for the
programme of the 19th Jihlava IDFF, 58 of which were shown in the world, 9 in their
international and 11 in their European premiere. Additional 21 were featured as part of
the Czech Television Documentaries section.
The Closing Ceremony saw the announcement of 6 awards whose winners were
selected by the juries of the individual competition sections.
Czech Joy Has No Winner
A jury composed of figures active on the Czech cultural scene – Miloš Doležal, Martin
Dušek, Iva Honsová, Milan Knížák and Jiří Voráč, did not find the winner of the Best
Czech Documentary Film Award.
“The jury found none of the films nominated for this year’s award worthy of the main
prize. The films lack a clear dramaturgical line, suffer from extensive use of footage,
many of them fail to reach beyond the limits of a common TV reportage and the
authors’ voice is often incoherent and unconvincing. The jury has therefore decided to
award two special mentions,” stated the jury.
“I can totally see why the jury has made that decision. In the long term, Czech
documentary filmmaking is underfunded, and the jury's reasoning is the result of this
situation. The difference between funds allocated to fiction film is ten to twenty times
For more information please contact:
René Kubášek
international communication
M: +420 778 058 273
E: rene@dokument-festival.cz
higher than to documentary film, although both these categories produce feature-length
films," said Marek Hovorka, director of the festival.
However, the jury decided to award two Special Mentions. The first goes to Tomáš
Potočný’s Tears of Steel: Vladimír Stehlík Meets Lubomír Krystlík.
The jury stated that they appreciated the film as: “A personal tragicomic story which
combines fiction and reality of the Czech society in the 1990s, told in a simple and
apposite manner that does not try to impress with an unnecessary exhibition of
authorial skills.”
The second Special Mention was given to Tomáš Kratochvíl whose Czech Against
Czechs appealed to the jury.
The Special Mention was awarded: “For the impressive use of film as a personal diary
that defies social stereotypes and prejudices.”
Under the Sun winning in the Between the Seas section
A jury composed of five members – Amra Bakšič, Viera Čákanyová, Abbas Fahdel,
Fred Kelemen and Daniel Walber – agreed to give the award to Vitaly Mansky for his
Under the Sun, winning the category of the Best Documentary Film from Eastern and
Central Europe.
“Vitaly Mansky inhabits the hidden frames of propaganda filmmaking to circumvent
and unravel the official images North Korea's closed society. His incisive point of view,
intimately connected with the childhood vulnerability of his primary subject, echoes
beyond the borders of any individual totalitarian state,” stated the jury.
The Best World Documentary Film Award goes to Dead Slow Ahead
The sole juror of the Opus Bonum section, Victor Kossakovsky selected Mauro Herce’s
Dead Slow Ahead as the Best International Documentary –
“For respecting the basics of the film language,” said Kossakovsky in his statement.
For more information please contact:
René Kubášek
international communication
M: +420 778 058 273
E: rene@dokument-festival.cz
Flotel Europa Won the Best Film Debut
The jury of the First Lights competition that this year brought together debut and second
feature films by up-and-coming filmmakers was composed of Anna Hoffman, Honng
Hoysook, Nuno Sena, David Wilson and Alberto Lastruci who decided to present the
award to director Vladimír Tomič for his Flotel Europa.
“For its sublime use of archival footage, and artfully crafted personal history, we the
jury select a film that resonates with contemporary relevance while maintaining a sense
of history that ranges from playful to serious. There are many coming of age stories and
many films about refugees, but our winner finds everyday poetry in this story of
romance amidst dislocation. Congratulations to Flotel Europa, winner of the First
Light award,” stated the jury.
The jury’s Special Mention went to Kristýna Bartošová and her The Dangerous World
of Doctor Doleček.
The jury statement said: “For any filmmaker, managing a confrontational main
character can be a challenge. For a first-time director investigating one of the darkest
moments in recent European history, this task could be herculean. So we the jury
honour a director who exhibits extraordinary patience, empathy and intelligence –
traits that will carry her far in her career. Our special mention goes to Kristýna
Bartošová for her direction of The Dangerous World of Doctor Doleček.
New Life, the winner of the Short Joy section
The Czech surrealist group selected one of 19 nominees in the Short Joy section – New
Life by Kiro Russo.
Jury’s statement: „On the minimalist scale of a pseudo-voyeur fragment from the banal
life of a young family on the backdrop of an impersonal and harshly depressing
environment of urban social periphery, Bolivian director Kiro Russo manages to
capture the multivalent implications of the topic, the ambivalence of love, desire and
commitment, the multifaceted nature teetering on the borderline of a magicalFor more information please contact:
René Kubášek
international communication
M: +420 778 058 273
E: rene@dokument-festival.cz
metaphorical gesture reaching beyond the elementary determinateness, the presence
and the future of human life. The jury appreciated the film’s balanced nature and the
varied coherence, to which it refers using minimalist expression means. The film
language organically re-frames conventional perspectives, overcoming the pitfalls of
superficial and unequivocal interpretations and opening up a space for the perception
of the indefiniteness of the human situation.
Art group Flatform taking home the award for the Best International
Experimental Film
Quantum. – this is the title of the winning film in the Fascinations category.
“Flatform's Quantum is a an extremely strong demonstration of cinema's possibilities to
go beyond reality while using in a magnificent but surprising way in many forms of art:
opera, stage performance special effects, sound composing and landscape painting,”
said the family jury – Emmanuel Lefrant and Elene Gui.
The Best Czech Experimental Film Award went to Anna Kryvenko
Emmanuel Lefrant with his partner Elena Gui also announced the Best Czech
Experimental Film from the exprmntl.cz section – this time, the award went to Listen to
the Horizon.
“Anna Kryvenko's Listen to the Horizon builds up, through a complex and balanced
montage, a political dramaturgy, raising fundamental questions that make the film a
genuine witness of its time,“ said the jurors.
The Best Festival Poster award went to Zagreb and the locally organised film
festival.
The Audience Award was presented to Vít Klusák for his Matrix AB.
For more information please contact:
René Kubášek
international communication
M: +420 778 058 273
E: rene@dokument-festival.cz
Silver Eye Awards
The Closing Ceremony of the Jihlava IDFF also saw the announcement of the Silver
Eye Awards for 2015, awarded by the Institute of Documentary Film. The Best Short
Documentary award was given to Snails (2015), Polish Casa Blanca garnered the Best
Mid-length Documentary award and the Austrian Over the Years (2015) took home the
Best Feature-length Documentary award.
For more information please contact:
René Kubášek
international communication
M: +420 778 058 273
E: rene@dokument-festival.cz
SPONSORS & PARTNERS
Supported By:
Ministry of Culture Czech Republic
State Cinematography Fund
City of Jihlava
Creative Europe MEDIA
Vysočina Region
ROP South-East
European Commission Representation in
the Czech Republic
Embassy of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands
Austrian Cultural Forum Prague
Polish Institute Prague
Italian Cultural Institute in Prague
Embassy of the State of Israel
Hungarian Cultural Institute
Instituto Camões de Portugal
Slovak Institute Prague
DOC.STREAM Supported By:
EEA Grant
Partnership Fund within the Swiss-Czech
Cooperation Programme
Partners of Industry Section:
Audiovisual Producers‘ Association (APA)
Central European Initiative (CEI)
Czech Centers
HBO Europe
Creative Europe Desk Czech Republic –
MEDIA
FAMU/MIDPOINT: Central European
Script Center
Industry Zone Partners:
State Cinematography Fund
Premier Wines & Spirits
Base Gang
Co-Organizers of Emerging Producers:
Creative Europe Desks – MEDIA in the
Czech Republic and Latvia, Danish Film
Institute, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation,
The Romanian Cultural Institute
For more information please contact:
René Kubášek
international communication
M: +420 778 058 273
E: rene@dokument-festival.cz
Co-organizer of the Industry Section:
Institute of the Documentary Film
Partner Project:
Doc Alliance Films
General Media Partner:
Czech Television
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Main Internet Partner:
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For more information please contact:
René Kubášek
international communication
M: +420 778 058 273
E: rene@dokument-festival.cz
Jihlavské listy
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Foreign Media Partners:
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Cooperation:
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AMU Press / Publishing House
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Regional Gallery of the Vysočina region
Tomáš Zdechovský – Member of the
European Parliament
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