Jihlava, South Moravia, Oct 30 (CTK) – The Wall by Russian film maker Dmitry Bogolubov, showing the cult of communist leader Joseph Stalin in contemporary Russia, was named the 2017 best world documentary at the 21st Ji.hlava international documentary film festival this weekend.
The prize for the best Central and Eastern European documentary film went to Opera about Poland by Piotr Stasik, a collage in search of Polish identity.
Czech Journal: The Limits of Work by Apolena Rychlikova, focusing on the work conditions in the worst paid jobs in the Czech Republic, was chosen as the best Czech documentary film of the year.
Boat People by British Sarah Wood, a film essay on migration in human history, won the experimental filmmaking competition.
The documentary debut film category had two winners: Turkish Gurcan Keltek for his Meteors, and Lebanese Rasna Eid for her Panoptic.
The Silver Eye award went to Sand and Blood by Austrian Matthias Krepp who presented armed conflicts in Iraq and Syria in his documentary.
The student jury selected a documentary film on the life of former Czechoslovak communist leader Milos Jakes, 95, made by Czech Pavel Kremen.
German documentary film maker Marcel Ophuls, 90, received the award for the contribution to world cinematography.
The guests to the Inspiration Forum, which is part of the festival’s programme, were Croatian theatre director Oliver Frljic, Polish reporter Katarzyna Surmiak-Domanska and journalist Zhanna Nemtsova, daughter of murdered Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.
The festival was held on October 24-29. More than 3,600 documentary films joined the festival competition and 342 of them were presented in Jihlava, including 70 world and 22 international premieres.
