OPUS BONUM
Best World Documentary Film 2022
Winner:
07:15 - Blackbird (dir. Judith Auffray / France, 2022)
Jury statement:
A simple, honest yet multi-sensory experience, this film draws us back to the mystery of our existence, while conveying ways of connecting us, humans and nonhumans, with a profound trust in the tools of cinema.
Best Central and East European Documentary Film 2022:
Deserters (dir. Damir Markovina / Croatia, 2022)
Jury statement:
To confront the past is painful but fundamental. This raw but delicately constructed film brings forth traces of memory and conflict from Europe’s collective history.
Best editing:
Over Our Hills (dir. Mateo Ybarra / Switzerland, 2022)
Jury statement:
The film creates a multifaceted perspective on masculinity that intelligently progresses and reminds us that rhythm and beat are important in editing.
Best cinematography:
07:15 - Blackbird (dir. Judith Auffray / France, 2022)
Jury statement:
For its elegant yet non-manipulative camerawork.
Best debut:
Bloom (dir. Fanie Pelletier / Canada, 2022)
Jury statement:
For its use of new media and cinematic language, exploring how it impacts the psychology of a new generation in terms of self, ego and vanity.
Original approach:
Greater Gospel (dir. Javier Codesal / Spain, 2021)
Jury statement:
A collection of important testimonies that inventively combines different motifs and playfully echoes and subverts rituals of belief systems. Cinema is still very young and new approaches are open.
Best sound design:
Deserters (dir. Damir Markovina / Croatia, 2022)
Jury statement:
For intricately constructing the sound of memory.
Student Jury Award:
Over Our Hills (dir. Mateo Ybarra / Switzerland, 2022)
Jury statement:
The main award of the student jury for the Best World Film in the Opus Bonum section goes to a picture that inspires us to reflect on the very essence of preparations for an armed conflict. The film captures the absurd reality of the mandatory military training in Switzerland and to this end, employs a very sensitive and well-designed structure.
CZECH JOY
Best Czech Documentary Film 2022
Winner:
Kapr Code (dir. Lucie Králová / Slovakia, Czech Republic, 2022)
Jury statement:
This film gives joy through its original and sophisticated form. In a perfect symphony of all the components of its cinematic language, it tells a story of a forgotten and ambiguous character of Czech history.
Special mention:
The Visitors (dir. Veronika Lišková / Czech Republic, Norway, Slovakia, 2022)
Jury statement:
Confidence in artistic expression and the choice of subject and the simultaneous vulnerability of the heroine in an environment where nature and society are constantly changing.
Best editing:
a-B-C-D-e-F-G-H-i-JONESTOWN (dir. Jan Bušta / Czech Republic, 2022)
Jury statement:
We are happy to present the Best Editing Award to one of the most prominent editors. For the search for a new mode of expression through editing which aligns with radicality, playful subversiveness and the unconventional nature of Jan Bušta's ABCDEFGHI-Jonestown, this award goes to Šimon Špidla.
Best cinematography:
Found by the One She Seeks (dir. Petr Michal / Czech Republic, 2022)
Jury statement:
Its portrayal of intimity and spontaneity, and the precision of its concentrated expression and visual poetry are what deeply appealed to us in this film.
Student Jury Award:
Happily Ever After (dir. Jana Počtová / Czech Republic, 2022)
Jury statement:
The Main Award of the student jury in the Czech Joy section goes to a documentary which is full of intimate yet open testimonies and presents an accessible exploration of modern human relationships.
TESTIMONIES
Best Film Testimony 2022
Winner:
Into the Weeds: Dewayne "Lee" Johnson vs Monsanto company (dir. Jennifer Baichwal / Canada, 2022)
Jury statement:
The documentary portrayed in the great detail the case and the power-game between the multinational corporation and ordinary citizen. It showed the toxic traits inherent to our current economic system as well as the necessity of togerness of the claimants during the litigation.
Special mention:
Rojek (dir. Zaynê Akyol / Canada, 2022)
Jury statement:
It displays a unique approach to an important political issue that has shaken the world. The documentary gives a space and time to see intimate portraits of the former members of ISIS and understand roots of the fanatical terror.
Special mention:
Atlantic Ragagar (dir. Gilles Aubry / Switzerland, 2022)
Jury statement:
The documentary abandons the Western dichotomies of people versus nature, conveying the necessity of perceiving the environment in a conscious way. Through the perspective of phenomenological and materialistic feminism, it portrays the primary role of the female community in Morocco that strives to preserve the local seaweed ecosystem.
FASCINATIONS
Best Experimental Documentary Film 2022
Winner:
The Sound of Time (dir. Jeissy Trompiz / Italy, Brazil, Venezuela, 2022)
Jury statement:
Investigates how vision is derived from audio. By reinventing the visuals, this human struggle from the past becomes relevant in the current societal environment, which was well-executed aesthetically.
Special mention:
Spectrum Restoration (dir. Felippe Mussel / Brazil, 2022)
Jury statement:
The seamless intertwining of audio and video within a contemporary environmental issue; the chosen timeline aesthetics metaphors the "timeline" context of a forest fire from the year 2018-2021.
Special mention:
The geometry of the hunter (dir. Soh Boram / Republic of Korea (South Korea), 2022)
Jury statement:
This film takes a novel approach to experimental filmmaking among the other entries, and that makes the film fascinating.
FASCINATIONS: EXPRMNTL.CZ
Best Czech Experimental Documentary Film 2022
Winner:
Glasswork (dir. Zdeněk Picpauer / Czech Republic, 2022)
Jury statement:
Though the subject of Glasswork is about shattering, the way it is presented is highly compact. The 1-minute duration of shattering glasses that are displayed as fireworks comes with audio that is organically inherited from the subject. There is no human or animal struggle here, but purely experimental and entertaining in some ways. Glassworks is a simple and digestible video that does not compromise the interweaving component of the technical aspects, processes, and materials used.
Special mention:
Kambium 1492 (dir. Peter Kašpar, Denis Kozerawski / Slovakia, 2022)
Jury statement:
Recognizes the historical significance of trees. This visually meditative film addressed the shifting value of trees in the world of commodities that are highly appropriate in the present environmental issue with well-executed cinematography.
Special mention:
The Landscape of Ashes (dir. Eliška Plechatová / Czech Republic, 2022)
Jury statement:
Embraces the potential of new form out of decayed material. Ashes are the dead form of wood. But when seen under a microscope, these ashes seem to appear to be minerals. Implying the possibility of the phoenix of ashes as what the author intended to explore.
AUDIENCE AWARD 2022
Winner:
Happily Ever After (dir. Jana Počtová / Czech Republic, 2022)
SHORT JOY
Best Short Documentary Film 2022
Winner:
Blue Bed (dir. Lize Cuveele / Belgium, 2021)
This section’s jury was general public, which has voted online for the films in competition.
BEST VIRTUAL REALITY 2022
Winner:
https://www.ji-hlava.com/filmy/chybejici-obrazy-epizoda-2-tsai-ming-liang-sedm-poschodi">Missing Pictures Episode 2: Tsai Ming-Liang, The Seven-Story Building
Kuan-Yuan Lai, Clement Deneux / France, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, South Korea, Taiwan, 2021
Special Mention
https://www.ji-hlava.com/filmy/z-hlavniho-namesti">From the Main Square
Pedro Harres / Germany, 2022
SILVER EYE AWARDS 2022
(awarded by the Institute of Documentary Film)
Winner:
Love is Not an Orange (dir. Otilia Babara / Moldova, France, Netherlands, Belgium, 2022)
Jury statement:
Two films are very diferent in approach. We see the sacrifice of mothers becoming martyrs; saviours of family and country, and the passing of generational trauma. These films each speak through the child’s gaze: one unfolding from a more formal approach to the present day, the other drawing on the archived past of both family memories and national collective history.
Special Mention:
Plai. A Mountain Path (dir. Eva Dzhyshyashvili / Ukraine, 2021)
CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA AWARD 2022
Dušan Hanák
THE BEST FESTIVAL POSTER AWARD
Winner (Festival Identity jury):
DokuFest, International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2022
Winner (Audience choice):
Taiwan International Documentary Festival
