18/08/2026 - At the Sarajevo showcase, Ji.hlava also announced €110,000 in support for documentaries, the Emerging Producers 2027 line-up and Montenegro as its 2026 guest country

The participants in Docu Talents from the East

Two projects have scooped prizes at Docu Talents from the East, the showcase organised by the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, which presented seven upcoming documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe during CineLink Industry Days at the Sarajevo Film Festival. The selected projects, all scheduled for theatrical release within the next 12 months, hail from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine.

The Docu Talent Award, recognising the most promising project, went to the Luxembourgish-Slovak co-production Ora et Labora, directed by Dzhovani Gospodinov, and produced by Bady Minck and Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu. The prize also includes an invitation to the 2026 Ji.hlava New Visions Market.

The international jury praised the project for its “exceptional access, humanity and irreverence”, highlighting its exploration of time, generations and belief, and describing the film as a highly personal and distinctive work.

Meanwhile, the €3,000 in-kind DAFilms.com VoD Distribution Award was bestowed upon the Slovak project Retuning, directed by Sára Prokopová and produced by Tereza Tokárová. The prize will provide the documentary with an international VoD release on DAFilms.com for two years, covering the Americas, Europe and Asia. The jury singled out the film’s timeliness and its “committed energy of resistance” in tackling the manipulation of truth and freedom of expression in the media.

Alongside the awards, Ji.hlava unveiled several initiatives aimed at strengthening its support for documentary filmmaking in Central and Eastern Europe. A total of €110,000 will be distributed to CEE projects in 2026 through the Ji.hlava/JB Films support scheme (see the news), run by the festival together with Czech entrepreneur Jan Barta. The initiative is dedicated to supporting outstanding auteur filmmaking from the region, with the current call for applications remaining open until 31 August.

The festival also announced the participants in Emerging Producers 2027, its year-long programme for up-and-coming European documentary producers. The new cohort comprises 17 European producers alongside Kyoko Takenaka from Japan, which will serve as the programme’s guest country. The selected European producers are Stephan Herzog (Austria), Martina Netíková (Czech Republic), Rosalien Hollestelle (Netherlands), Friedemann Hottenbacher (Germany), Leonidas Liambeys (Greece), Péter Nadori (Hungary), Isabella Rinaldi (Italy), Louise Byrne (Ireland), Đorđe Vojvodić (Montenegro), Justyna Rutkowska (Poland), Bruno Moraes Cabral (Portugal), Ion Gnatiuc (Republic of Moldova), Michaela Kaliská (Slovakia), Jerca Jerič (Slovenia), André Robert (Spain), Olha Tuharinova (Ukraine) and Nađa Lapčević (UK). The programme will comprise three workshops, beginning in Jihlava in October 2026 before continuing during the Berlinale in February 2027. The location of the third session, scheduled for spring 2027, will be announced at a later stage.

Finally, Montenegro has been named the Ji.hlava Industry Guest Country for 2026, with the focus organised in cooperation with the Film Centre of Montenegro. Poland, meanwhile, will be represented as the official delegation at Ji.hlava Industry. The 30th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival is set to run from 23 October-1 November 2026.