Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival

Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (Mezinárodní festival dokumentárních filmů Ji.hlava), known as MFDF Ji.hlava or Ji.hlava IDFF, is a documentary film festival in Jihlava, Czech Republic, normally held in late October. The 28th edition of the festival will run from 25 October to 3 November 2024.

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 European documentary film festivals.

Over 86,000 people viewed films during the 2022 festival – more than 36,000 directly in cinemas and almost 50,000 online. 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 2022, the festival presented 376 films.

Competition sections
The main festival consists of 6 competition sections: Aside from the main award, the jurors of Opus Bonum also hand out awards for the best cinematography, editing, sound design, outstanding formats such as the best film essay, best debut, and the best film from the region of Central and Eastern Europe (Between the Seas). The festival annually nominates one film to be added to the pre-selection for the European Film Academy (EFA) 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.
 * Opus Bonum - Best World Documentary Film
 * Czech Joy - Best Czech Documentary Film
 * Fascinations - Best World Experimental Documentary Film
 * Fascinations: Exprmntl.cz - Best Czech Experimental Documentary Film
 * Short Joy - Best Short Documentary Film
 * Testimonies - Best films on politics, nature and knowledge / an international competition for best documentaries with historical and political cross-over, on ecological and environmental topic or documentary that expands the non-fiction genre.

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:
 * Reality TV - a section focusing on new television formats and current cross-genre forms, such as docudrama, docusoap, reality show or mockumentary
 * Czech Television Documentaries - an overview of the documentaries produced by Czech Television
 * FAMU Presents - a presentation of work by students of the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU)
 * Translucent Beings - a section presenting works by key personalities in the history of documentary films
 * Transparent Landscape - a cross-section of the documentaries of particular countries
 * Constellations - a selection of notable world films from other film festivals
 * Conference Fascinations - a long-term program that uses experimental films to introduce retrospective topics related to Central and Eastern Europe
 * Siren Test - explore today's international music documentary and experimentation
 * Doc Alliance Selection - Doc Alliance Selection Award is an award given by the Doc Alliance platform, comprising seven independent European documentary festivals: CPH:DOX, Millenium Docs Against Gravity, Doclisboa, Dok Leipzig, FIDMarseille, Ji.hlava IDFF, and Visions du Réel

Accompanying programme
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.

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, and participated 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
The Ji.hlava Industry Programme comprises events aimed at film professionals. The section includes:


 * Emerging Producers - an educational and networking project promoting European documentary film producers
 * Docu Talents From the East - a panel showcasing creative documentary projects from Central and Eastern Europe in the production or post-production phase, held annually since 2004. It has been organized in cooperation with Sarajevo Film Festival since 2017.
 * Festival Identity - a workshop and knowledge exchange for film festival organisers
 * Inspiration Forum - a platform bringing together documentary film directors with personalities from outside the film community such as scientists, writers, artists, activists, and philosophers
 * Conference Fascinations - a conference focusing on experimental film distribution
 * Visegrad Accelerator - a platform for meeting of Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak film professionals, state institutions and media representatives
 * Ji.hlava New Visions Forum & Market - a pitching and market for European and U.S. documentary projects in the development, production and post-production stages.
 * Ji.hlava Academy - an information and networking platform open to emerging filmmakers in non-fiction contemporary cinema.

Year-round Activities
Apart from the festival itself, which takes place in October, the Ji.hlava IDFF team organises various events at other times of the year:
 * Echoes of Ji.hlava IDFF - festival echoes take place in the Czech Republic and other European countries
 * Documentary Mondays - regular documentary film screenings with the film-makers present, taking place in the Prague art cinema Světozor
 * Living Cinema - summer screenings of selected Czech documentary films, taking place in unconventional locations in Jihlava and Prague
 * Czech Joy in Czech Cinemas - distribution of selected Czech documentary films in Czech and Slovak cinemas

Educational Activities
Ji.hlava IDFF participates in a number of educational activities:
 * Center for Documentary Film - a creative space in Jihlava Dukla cinema dedicated to the study of documentary cinematography
 * Media & Documentary - a workshop for film science and journalism students focused on writing about documentary film, taking place during the Ji.hlava IDFF