Showcasing the most investigative Czech and Eastern European nonfiction, Ji.hlava Intl. celebrates underappreciated auteurs and platforms for independent collaborations. Documentary Film Festival is very busy these days.

With its newly expanded 28th edition featuring a 10-day gala in the historic city of Jihlava in the Czech Republic, the festival’s founder and festival director says the festival will shake things up as always Marek Hovorka.

The opening film of the festival is “Ms. Hovorka says Marek Sulik’s “President” is an embedded narrative of the frustrations of Zuzana Caputova, the first woman to hold office in Slovakia, making it a suitable banner project.

“We always support Czech and Slovak culture and films. “This is a huge study and I think it can give a deeper impression of how society works in the Czech and Slovak republics.”

Hovorka says he can detect “a change in mood and disposition” of people in Slovakia, which borders Ukraine and whose government is openly pro-Putin.

Hovorka says Russia’s war against Ukraine, now in its third year, still overshadows much documentary work in the region; So much so that while the world’s attention is on war zones, some great films in the genre are likely to be overlooked.

Hovorka notes that an insight that goes beyond the headlines is that Filip Remunda’s new doc, “Happiness for All,” emerges as a result of eight years spent with an unlucky but in many ways typical Russian living in Siberia. Remunda, one half of the team with Vit Klusak, who brought Czech documents to international audiences 20 years ago with his consumer capitalism dispatch “Czech Dream”, is celebrated at Ji.hlava this year.

Klusak and Remunda’s ironic approach continued throughout their stellar careers, as their focus shifted from wargaming to COVID 19 culture. Hovorka says the Czech Republic’s embrace of this remarkable disrespect was part of what caught the attention of Michael Moore, one of the team’s early defenders.

In “Happiness,” Remunda learns that even a Russian bricklayer barely scraping by on the fringes of society can believe in Putin — and perhaps her mindset may help explain why so many of her countrymen and women are so devoted to Putin. ruthless leader.

Hovorka says that like most festivals, Russian films will not be screened at Ji.hlava because most of them require state funding. But there are ways to stay ethical while also investigating the lives and minds of Russians.

“I think this is a really moving film that allows us to hear a Russian’s side,” says Hovorka. “We don’t usually hear about that.”

The growth of the festival has been remarkable since its founding, and this year it was inundated with 3,500 film applications. Ji.hlava announced last year that it would extend the duration to both provide participants with better access to events and offer more screenings.

Hovorka says around 340 films reached audiences this year: “The competition was really high and it’s great to see so many filmmakers interested in us and the documentary form.”

Hovorka says Ji.hlava’s mission to help new filmmakers find both support and an audience is as vital as ever and can best be seen this year at the New Visions Forum, a key part of Industry Days on October 29. November. 1. Held in conjunction with a market in the glitzy Industrial Center area, this generally packed event features a notable range of projects presented in development, production and post-production.

This year, East and Southeast Asia projects were added to the mix. Hovorka says this is a natural and organic step because document producers in this region face the same dilemmas and challenges as their counterparts in the United States and Europe.

“Our suffering and the tasks we deal with are the same everywhere,” Hovorka says of documentary directors and producers. “We kind of share the same job.”

Besides Ji.hlava’s annual showcase of 18 emerging producers from Central and Eastern Europe, Hovorka says he is delighted with the festival’s conference on the ethics of creating and producing documents, which will take place from 30-31 October. Experienced participants will cover topics ranging from social inclusion to who decides what subjects documentary filmmakers are allowed to film.

“Who are the gatekeepers and what issues are more easily addressed and what issues are not possible to address, perhaps due to funding, censorship or self-censorship?” he asks.

In terms of screenings, Ji.hlava’s Testimonials section focuses on issues of global concern each year, this time tackling themes of the natural world and climate crises – Yasha Levine and Rowan Wernham’s New Zealand/US documentary “Peanut Wars”, Hovorka, drought-stricken He says he has a characteristic insight when looking at the profitable but water-intensive hazelnut farming in California.

Meanwhile, the New Visions section is all about discovering filmmakers, while Czech Joy showcases the best of homemaking and Fascinations curates bold experimental projects.

Hovorka says he wonders how a different episode would affect audiences: We’ve Got a Movie! A collection of archival documents from the days when the fascist Slovak state was established under Nazi occupation, curated by Petra Hanakova.

“We were really surprised that most of these films didn’t have a political approach,” says Hovorka.

Hovorka says that Ji.hlava is also proud to introduce to its audience the work of Tsai Ming-Lang, who shattered the stereotypes of temporal approaches in Taiwanese films.

He is also excited to screen the films of Anne-Marie Mieville, whose career has been overshadowed by that of her creative partner, Jean-Luc Godard.

“We are so happy to be able to feature it,” he says. “We are happy that times have changed and there is a more equal dialogue between two strong personalities.”