Jihlava presents best of European documentaries

by Theodore Schwinke

18/10/2010 - The 14th Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (October 26–31) will offer a rich program of films from across Europe and the world, including Czech Peace by Filip Remunda and Vít Klusák, Socialism [trailer] by Jean-Luc Godard and Emmanuel Laurent’s Two in the Wave.

The Opus Bonum international competition includes 48 (Portugal), God No Say So (Switzerland/Sierra Leone), The Dubai in Me (Germany), Lessons of the Blood (Taiwan/US/Germany), El Sicario–Room 164 [trailer] (France/US), To Shoot an Elephant (Spain), Nostalgia for the Light (France/Austria/Chile/Spain), Ascent to the Sky (France), Wistful Wilderness (Netherlands) and The Forgotten Space [trailer] (Netherlands/Austria).

The Between the Seas competition features 18 documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe, including Bad Girls Cell 77 (Poland), Concrete Pharaohs (Bulgaria), Cave (Hungary), K11–Confessions of a Sex Tourist (Austria), On Rubik's Road (Latvia), Negative History of Hungarian Cinema (Hungary), Olda (Czech Republic), Souvenirs: Healing From War (Latvia/US) and from Romania, Kapitalism–Our Secret Recipe, After the Revolution and The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu [trailer].

The Institute of Documentary Film's (IDF) industry section anticipates more than 30 commissioning editors and buyers, 20 sales agents, and 70 directors among its 400 guests.

A crowded calendar of events awaits film professionals, and members of the public can attend presentations by directors Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Michael Glawogger, Anders Østergaard, Pawel Lozinski and Pavel Kostomarov.

Other guests include Czech filmmaker Helena Třeštíková, who will attend a special screening of her film René; and Estonian director/producer Marianna Kaat, who will present a case study of Pit No. 8.