Almost 4,500 festivalgoers including over a thousand film professionals visited the 21st edition of the Ji.hlava IDFF, which took place on October 24-29, 2017. Out of 342 screened films, 70 were shown in their world, 12 in their international and 22 in their European premiere. This year, the films competed in 10 sections and the programme offered over 150 discussions and Q&A sessions. The total number of spectators reached 40,000. Dozens of accompanying and industry events took place during the festival. We would like to thank all our guests, collaborators and partners who helped to make another successful edition of the festival happen. You can soak up the atmosphere of the 21st Ji.hlava by visiting this photo gallery.

AWARDS OF THE 21ST JI.HLAVA IDFF

Opus Bonum
Award for the Best World Documentary Film 2017
Winner: The Wall, Dmitry Bogolubov, Russia, 2017

First Lights
Award for the Best Feature-Length Documentary Debut 2017
Winner: Meteors, Gürcan Keltek, Turkey, Netherlands, 2017
Winner: Panoptic, Rana Eid, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, 2017
Student Jury Award: The Making of Justice, Sarah Vanhee, Belgium, 2017

Between the Seas
Award for the Best Central and Eastern European Documentary Film 2017
Winner: Opera about Poland, Piotr Stasik, Poland, 2017
Special Mention: People Pebble, Jivko Darakchiev, Perrine Gamot, United Kingdom, France, 2017

Czech Joy
Award for the Best Czech Documentary Film 2017
Winner: Czech Journal: The Limits of Work, Apolena Rychlíková, Czech Republic, 2017
Special Mention: The Last Shift of Thomas Hisem, Jindřich Andrš, Czech Republic, 2017
Special Mention: Everything Has Its Own Time, Viola Ježková, Czech Republic, 2017
Student Jury Award: Milda, Pavel Křemen, Czech Republic, 2017

Fascinations
Award for the Best Experimental Documentary Film 2017
Winner: Boat People, Sarah Wood, United Kingdom, 2016
Special Mention: The End of Time, Milcho Manchevski, Cuba, USA, 2017

Fascinations: Exprmntl.cz
Award for the Best Czech Experimental Documentary Film 2017
Winner: Can, Lucie Navrátilová, Czech Republic, 2017
Special Mention: Tradition, Kateřina Turečková, Czech Republic, 2017

Short Joy
Award for the Best Short Documentary Film 2017 Winner: Interiors & Exteriors, Ashique Mostafa, Bangladesh, 2017

A Testimony on Politics
Winner: Last Men in Aleppo, Feras Fayyad, Denmark, Syria, Germany, 2017

A Testimony on Knowledge
Winner: Panic Attack, Ernesto Ardito, Argentina, 2017

A Testimony on Nature
Winner: Nature: All Rights Reserved, Sebastian Mulder, Netherlands, 2016

Audience Award
Audience Award of the 21st edition of Ji.hlava IDFF
Winner: Czech Journal: The Limits of Work, Apolena Rychlíková, Czech Republic, 2017

Contribution to World Cinema Award 2017
Marcel Ophuls

Respect Weekly Award
For the Best Czech TV and Video Reportage 2017
Winner: Currency Scam, Janek Rubeš, 2017

Silver Eye Awards
Awards for the best East and Central European documentary films granted by the Institute of Documentary Film
Feature-length category: Sand and Blood, Matthias Krepp, Austria, 2017
Mid-length category: Paper Stars, Inna Omelchenko, Russia, 2016
Short-length category: Dust, Jakub Radej, Poland, 2017

Awards for the Best Film Festival Poster 2017
Festival Identity Award: Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival 2017
Audience Award: Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival 2017

We have published reviews of the films that competed at Ji.hlava last month at the Dok.Revue online documentary portal. The reviews were written by film critics and journalists including Neil Young (Sight & Sound), Will Tizard (Variety), Vladan Petković and Tina Poglajen (Cineuropa), Nick Holdsworth (Hollywood Reporter), Daniel Walber (Nonfics), Sydney Levine (Indiewire), Dominik Kamalzadeh (Der Standard) and others. At the Dok.revue you may also watch short interviews with the festival's guests, as well as recordings of Ji.hlava's popular masterclasses.

Ji.hlava's Emerging Producers competing at IDFA

We are always thrilled to hear about the Ji.hlava's Emerging Producers' successes at international festivals. Patricia Drati, Emerging Producer 2016, co-produced Mohamed Siam’s Amal, the opening film of the upcoming IDFA. Among other films in competition at IDFA this year there will be Marta Prus' Over the Limit produced by Maciej Kubicki (EP 2017) and Ieva Ozolina's Solving My Mother produced by Madara Melberga (EP 2014). Another Emerging Producer 2014, Julianna Ugrin, will premiere two films at IDFA - Bernadett Tuza-Ritter's A Woman Captured and Dorottya Zurbó's and Arun Bhattarai's The Next Guardian. Congratulations to all and good luck! At IDFA you may also set up a meeting with our colleague René Kubášek who will be in Amsterdam between November 19-22.