POSTER OF THE THIS YEAR’S JI.HLAVA IDFF WAS UNVEILED
THE 26TH EDITION WILL FEATURE WORLD PREMIERE OF JAN ŠVANKMAJER’S LATEST FILM
The visual identity of the 26th Ji.hlava IDFF has been revealed! Its concept invites us to joyfully discover new and creative approaches to the world around. The author of the visuals, Juraj Horváth, is an award-winning book graphic designer and illustrator who has been the creator of the festival’s visual identity for over two decades.
The festival announced also the first programme highlight of this year’s edition: the latest film by legendary surrealist filmmaker Jan Švankmajer entitled Kunstkamera. The two-hour director’s cut will be presented in world premiere.
The 26th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival will take place on October 25 to 30, 2022 in Jihlava and move online for the 2 following weeks. “We want to make the live part of Ji.hlava into an experience, full of stimulating input and inspiring encounters, followed by an online part that brings documentaries not only to those who can make it to Jihlava,” says the director of the Ji.hlava IDFF, Marek Hovorka.
What will this year’s Ji.hlava look like? The festival’s traditional visual identity created for the upcoming festival edition can give us a pre-taste.
“This year’s Ji.hlava‘s visuals capture the joy of discovering our creative presence in the world,” says Marek Hovorka. “Juraj Horváth physically encodes life, his everyday experience, meetings, thoughts in the latest festival poster. Rather than an eye it resembles a retina, on which all perceptions are inscribed as if on a screen”.
The renowned graphic designer Juraj Horváth has been behind the Ji.hlava’s visual identity for over twenty years, and is author of the celebrated EMERGING PRODUCERS catalogues and other Ji.hlava’s visuals. The Ji.hlava 2021 festival catalogue recently came third in a competition for the Most Beautiful Book of the Year in the Czech Republic.
Horváth is also the author of the traditional “poster poem”. This time it is depicting a “left eye inked with indigo” and a “shadow of a moving probe / followed by the camera”. The full poem is at the end of the press release.
THE LAST FILM BY ŠVANKMAJER?
Jan Švankmajer‘s latest film Kunstkamera invites us to rejoice at discovering new things. The two-hour director’s cut will be presented at this year’s Ji.hlava IDFF in a world premiere. The film showcases an exceptional art collection created by the renowned surrealist, visual artist, filmmaker as well as writer, Jan Švankmajer, on his chateau in Horní Staňkov. “The historical experience says that each kunstkamera made until today was sold or stolen or destroyed after the death of its creator,” says Jan Švankmajer who is turning eighty this year. “For example, the collection by Rudolf II, and most recently the kunstkamera of André Breton. These are unique documents illustrating the level of imagination of people in the relevant period. Official museums can’t replace these collections because they lack the personal commitment. I have realized that my collection will undoubtedly meet the same fate and that’s why I decided to use at least the film medium to document the level of imagination of the contemporary people (remnants of the world of magic),” adds the director.
„Instead of merely creating a descriptive catalogue of artefacts,“ says producer Jaromír Kallista, “we decided to make a film with an added value of Švankmajer‘s imaginative view in the sequence of objects and interpretation, and not only the verbal one, of his kunstkamera. The film strives to spread the magical atmosphere of collections at the Staňkovský chateau. Following the Alchemical Furnace, Kunstkamera will logically top up our joint filmmaking production. There is nothing else to shoot at our age,” adds Jaromír Kallista.
The 26th Ji.hlava IDFF will take place on October 25–30 2022, the discounted Early Bird are available until June 30. At least CZK 50 from each festival pass purchased by June 30 will be donated to a public charity collection held by Ukrainian festival Docudays UA that financially supports Ukrainian documentarians.
Download the 26th Ji.hlava IDFF poster, and stills / scene from Švankmajer’s kunstkamera here.
For more information visit www.ji.hlava.com and the festival‘s Facebook and Instagram profiles or contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The poster poem by Juraj Horváth:
A Posteriori
Explosion of light on the retina
Left eye inked with indigo
Fixed, not blinking
A smudged image
The shadow of a moving probe
Followed by the camera
As time goes by
I place under the matrix
Hairpins, seeds
Contours of faces, bodies
Signs to decipher
Without the help of machines
Only by touch
Fingertips and palms
I exert pressure
And create
Layer by layer
I go with the flow
I make fire in the stove
I'm surrounded
With samples, paints and tools
Everything has its place
I pick them up repeatedly
I use them
And then I clean up
I often do nothing
Silence
I'm waiting
I step out
Apricots are in bloom
At moments like these
I'm not watching the news
Answering the phone
Thinking about you
Or about the war
