Ji.hlava / JB Films Support

Recipients of Ji.hlava / JB Films Support 2024

WITH LOVE, FROM THE FRONTLINE
Ji.hlava / JB Films co-production support: 40,000 EUR

Countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine
Director: Alisia Kovalenko
Producer: Kasia Kuczyńska, Tomasz Morawski
Co-producers: Darya Bassel, Oleksandra Kravchenko
Genre: Documentary
Estimated date of premiere: First half of 2025

Synopsis:
WITH LOVE, FROM THE FRONTLINE is a deeply personal documentary by Alisa Kovalenko, who combines her perspectives as a mother, soldier, and filmmaker. The film spans from early spring to summer 2022, capturing the routine, waiting, and sudden violence of life in the trenches. Through Alisa's camera, viewers experience the stark reality of the Ukrainian frontline, from the quiet moments of reflection to the chaos of missile strikes. Her letters to her son Theo provide an emotional core, exploring themes of love, legacy, and the personal cost of war. By focusing on her relationships with comrades and the inner turmoil of conflict, FRONTLINE offers a unique, intimate view of war that transcends traditional documentary storytelling.

POWER, ELAINE
Ji.hlava / JB Films co-production support: 40,000 EUR

Country: Serbia
Director and Producer: Mila Turajlić
Genre: Documentary
Estimated date of premiere: January 2025

Synopsis:
Elaine Mokhtefi (née Klein), a Jewish American from New York, has had an exhilarating life, colored by the great events of decolonisation that marked the 1960s and 70s. At the age of 90, she decides to write her memoirs, plunging into the past and combing through research documents. Sitting in the kitchen of her cozy Upper West Side apartment, surrounded by photos and souvenirs of decades of activism, dwarfed by the giant iMac screen in front of her, she could hardly have imagined that the publication of her book "Algiers, Third World Capital: Freedom Fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers" in 2018 would inaugurate an entirely new chapter in her life.

WISHING ON A STAR
Ji.hlava / JB Films co-production support: 30,000 EUR

Countries: Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia
Director: Peter Kerekes
Producers: Erica Barbiani, Lucia Candelpergher, Peter Kerekes, Anna Mach Rumanová
Co-producers: Ralph Wieser, Vít Schmarc, Vanja Jambrović, Tibor Keser, Stefano Centini
Genre: Documentary
Date of premiere: August 2024 (Venice FF)

Synopsis:
An astral comedy that shows how to resurrect one’s love for a husband, find a woman to start a family or reconcile with your father. Just go to Alaska, Greenland or Lebanon, advises Italian astrologer Luciana, who works as a psychotherapist and personal coach in her office. This touchingly real guide to emotional turmoil, human longing and hope is based on the techniques of fiction film. A layered group portrait with a polished character typology portrays a world driven by chance, disguised as mirage, self-delusion or miracle.

About Ji.hlava / JB Films Support

The Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival and Jan Barta joined forces to support outstanding auteur filmmaking from Central and Eastern Europe by launching the Ji.hlava / JB Films support scheme.

Its aim is to support the effective distribution of films in both national and international context. We are aware that distributing auteur films is much more difficult after the pandemic, and we want to make it easier for exceptional projects to reach their audiences. We are convinced that these exceptional films can help us understand better the changes and the mounting crises of the world we live in.

Who was the call intended for?

The call was open to feature documentary and hybrid films whose main country of production is in the region of Central and Eastern Europe (see list of countries below). Support was primarily provided to films in production or post-production, with an expected world premiere within two years from submitting the application.

Amount of support:

The financial support from Ji.hlava / JB Films can reach up to 40.000 Euro for one film project.

Form of support:

The financial support was a co-production input to the film project, which will provide to Ji.hlava / JB Films a revenue share corresponding to the total cost (or as agreed between the main producer of the film and Ji.hlava / JB Films).

The profit share assigned to Ji.hlava / JB Films will be subsequently distributed in full to the newly selected film projects in subsequent calls. The aim is to create a tool that will enable repeated support for new films in the region.

Applicants had to meet the following conditions:

The main production company must be registered in one of the following Central and Eastern European countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus (only for projects not supported by the Belarusian state institutions), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia (only for projects not supported by the Russian state institutions), Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
The submitted film must be an international co-production, with a minimum of two co-producing countries.
The applicant must have at least 50% financing of the total budget secured.
One applicant can only submit one film project.
The applicant agrees that – if selected for support – the Czech premiere of the film will take place at the Ji.hlava IDFF

The application must be filled in online and contain the following attachments:

1/ Treatment and synopsis of the film project
2/ Director's filmography
3/ Producer's filmography
4/ The project’s creative approach and artistic value
5/ Visual material (rough-cut or selected scenes)
6/ Financial strategy and financial plan
7/ Intended distribution and marketing strategy
8/ Detailed strategy on how to generate revenue from sales and distribution, including proposed share for the Ji.hlava / JB Films co-production partner