Jihlava, South Moravia, Oct 31 (CTK) – Main awards were presented at the 19th International Documentary Film Festival Ji.hlava Saturday, except for the Czech film category in which the jury decided not to present the best film award.
“Many films remain on the level of television journalism and the author´s message is often not cohesive and persuasive,” the jury of the Czech Joy section, in which 16 films competed, justified its decision.
The audience award went to Vit Klusak for his Czech Journal: Matrix AB focused on Finance Minister and billionaire businessman Andrej Babis.
Documentary films competed in seven sections in Jihlava.
The award for the best documentary of Central and Eastern Europe went to Under the Sun by Russian Vitaly Mansky. It shows the life of an ordinary North Korean family through the course of one year.
The best world documentary award in the Opus Bonum section went to Dead Slow Ahead directed by Mauro Herce in a French-Spanish coproduction. It focuses only on the movements of workers and machines aboard a freighter sailing through a barren seascape.
The award for the best debut was given to Vladimir Tomic for his film Flotel Europa, his memories from the times when he was waiting for asylum with other refugees from the war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina aboard the Flotel Europa ship on the Danish shore.
Only two special mentions were awarded in the Czech film section – one was bestowed on Tears of Steel: Vladimir Stehlik Meets Lubomir Krystlik by Tomas Potocny and the other on Czechs against Czechs by Tomas Kratochvil.
The winner of the Short Joy section of short documentary films is New Life directed by Bolivian Kiro Russa, a minimalist portrait of the everyday life of young parents.
The award for the best experimental documentary was bestowed on the Italian-German project Quantum by the Faltform artistic group, while the best Czech experimental documentary was Listen to the Horizon by Anna Kryvenko.
The International Documentary Film Festival Ji.hlava, the largest event of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe, held on October 27-November 1, offered more than 250 films from all over the world. Fifty-eight had a world premiere at the festival, while nine were presented in an international premiere and 11 in a European premiere in Jihlava.
