Jihlava's Emerging Producers Unveil Proposed Endeavors for Future Films (EXCLUSIVE)
The Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival has unveiled the projects of its Emerging Producers program participants for the year 2025. This year's lineup features 18 up-and-coming documentary producers, with 17 hailing from Europe and one from Ethiopia.
Roman Ďuriš is directing "Always Far Away", a coming-of-age documentary about Vojta, the eldest son of a circus director. In a different corner of the world, Mariia Ponomarova is making "Patronymic", a hybrid experimental documentary short about her search for her patronymic.
The festival also includes "Everyone's Voice", a documentary by Daniel Pereira and Manuel Mozos, which tells the story of an 80-year-old local newspaper from a small town in Portugal. Meanwhile, "A Lake Full of Stones" produced by Luiza Paiva and Julia Alves, and directed by Bruna Carvalho Almeida, is a hybrid documentary exploring the impact of growing up in a family shaped by a forced marriage.
The program also features "End of Gravity", a Future-Mentary/Hybrid Documentary by Zoran Dževerdanović and Igor Zupe, set on the outskirts of São Paulo, Brazil, where a community's fight against displacement is portrayed. "Flying Cows" is another hybrid documentary, this time about a cow and her journey through unrecognized countries amidst war and displacement.
In the realm of creative documentaries, "Velvet Generation" follows young queer people in Eastern Europe as they navigate isolation, prejudice, and the search for belonging within the vibrant ballroom scene. "Elevated" by Gustav Littorin explores a group of outsiders on the autism spectrum who find community in elevators.
The Emerging Producers portal features over 230 profiles of alumni from the program, showcasing the continued growth and success of its participants. Some of the notable projects from previous years include "Amílcar", an experimental biopic documentary about Amilcar Cabral, a revolutionary leader who led the anti-colonial movement against Portugal in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, and "Still Night, Burning House", a documentary about a family journey to Vietnam to confront long-unspoken questions about an uncle's mysterious death.
The 2025 Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival's Emerging Producers program highlights new talents in documentary production, with a focus on contemporary global concerns such as artificial intelligence, new technologies, climate change, migration, shifts in democratic systems and societies, and quests for freedom and happiness. The festival's emphasis on supporting emerging talent from various regions, including Central and Eastern Europe and Ethiopia, indicates a breadth of perspectives and storytelling styles within the Emerging Producers program.
Social media users might discuss "Velvet Generation," a documentary that follows young queer people in Eastern Europe as they navigate isolation, prejudice, and find belonging within the vibrant ballroom scene. In a different vein, Mariia Ponomarova's hybrid experimental documentary short, "Patronymic," could be shared on platforms like movies-and-tv, showcasing her personal journey to find her patronymic.
){kind=link}