In his new film, Out in Force, celebrated documentarist Martin Mareček (Over the Hills, Solar Eclips - both won the Czech Lion Award for best documentary) brings a portrait of Czech film critique Kamil Fila whose desire to achieve the greatest physical strength contrasts with moments of complete lack of mental strength. The documentary, which will worldpremiere both in Ji.hlava's Opus Bonum international competition and the Czech Joy national competition, is produced by Jana Brožková and Zdeněk Holý of Vernes and co-produced by HBO Europe. The Czech Film Fund supported Out in Force for production with EUR 54 000 in 2019.

The Czech Joy, national competition of the Ji.hlava IDFF, includes 12 Czech films that will celebrate world premiere at the festival. Kristýna Kopřivová's debut Al Amari, temporary residence, about a Palestinian refugee camp, is a Czech-Romanian-Palestinian co-production. In co-operation with the Czech National Theatre, director Jiří Havelka prepared Eyewitness, a documentary anatomy of mass murder for one monitor and with 34 talking heads. In production of Jan Macola of Memesis Film, directors Adéla Špaljová and Tomáš Etzler, former foreign correspondent from China, provide an insight into the social system of the world's most populous country in Heaven.

Leaving Beginnings Behind is an observation of three girls growing up in Czech residential facility, directed by Linda Kallistová Jablonská and produced by Jana Brožková, Zdeněk Holý & Dušan Mulíček of Vernes. Director Petr Hátle & producer Alena Müllerová made One-room School, a portrait of an inclusive school that supports the integration of young migrants into Czech society. Experienced documentarist Zuzana Piussi (The State Capture) recapitulates the last ten years of the Slovak political scene in Ordeal, produced by Vít Janeček (for Slovak VIRUSfilm and Czech D1film).

 In Peculiarity of Fisherman’s Soul, director Ivana Pauerová Milošević focuses on the annual journey of Czech fishermen to Norway in search of a catch and the fulfilment of their desires, in production of Anna Lísalová (Aerofilms) & Alena Müllerová (Czech Television). In their documentary Points for the President aka Attempt at Contrarevolution, director Martin Kohout and producer Jakub Wagner (GPO Platform) reflect on where the ideals of November 1989 and the former sense of community have disappeared to. Debut director Milan Klepikov looks at the end of the world as defined by the poet Petr Král in his experimental and poetic doc Preparations for film T, produced by Martin Vandas & Antonie Dědečková of MAUR film.

These Times Are Not For Us, directed by Jan Látal and produced by Martina Šantavá & Rebeka Bartůňková, follows the daily life of iconic Czech musician Jan Nedvěd. In addition, British documentary Kinloss by Czech filmmaker Alice Dousova will also celebrate the world premiere within the Czech Joy section.

Czech Joy will also introduce 6 films in Czech premiere and 1 film in Central European premiere. FAMU student Juliana Moska debuts in front of Czech spectators with a short experimental documentary ANIMOT, filmed at rescue centres in Prague and Vlašim. Acclaimed documentary feature Brotherhood (Pardo d'oro at Locarno IFF 2021) by director Francesco Montagner and producer Pavla Janoušková Kubečková will also be presented to the Czech audience for the first time. Director Tereza Tara fell ill at the age of 25 and captured her ten-year-long journey to recovery in Healing Me (produced by Jan Bodnár of GNOMON Production)

Two other films in the Czech Joy competition came home to confirm their success from abroad: Vera Lacková's How I Became a Partisan (Cineast Festival) and celebrated Love, Dad (Locarno IFF, Toronto IFF, BFI London) by Diana Cam Van Nguyen, which was made in production of Karolína Davidová / 13ka.

Director and producer Martin Ježek will introduce his experimental performative documentary tribute to the poet and priest Jakub Deml in Our Purgatory. Furthermore, Czech Joy will also celebrate Central European premiere of Miroslav Bambušek's Blood Kin - based on true events allegory, which balances between documentary and surreal dramatization, is produced by Saša Dlouhý of freeSaM.

Testimonies, Short joy, Fascinations: Exprmntl.cz

Czech docs are also present in other sections of Ji.hlava's official selection. Testimonies, a selection of films that capture the current state of the world from various angles, will host a world premiere of a portrait of a world-famous Czech traveler Stingl - Little Big Okima by Steve Lichtag, produced by the director himself and Adam Chroust of EUROSPOT. This section will also screen last year's IDFA winner Latvian-Czech Gorbachev. Heaven by Vitaly Mansky, which is co-produced on the Czech side by Hypermarket Film and Czech Television.

While Short Joy competition for short docs includes Social Murder by Averklub kol., the Fascinations: Exprmntl.cz will screen 19 Czech short docs which experiment with a form. You can find the list and detailed information involving selected films HERE.

Ji.hlava IDFF also offers rich non-competitive programme with various thematic sections. You can browse the full programme HERE.