The 29th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival has crowned Silver by Polish filmmaker Natalia Koniarz as Best Film, after showcasing a line-up that foregrounded themes of resistance and remembrance. Across the competitions, this year’s winners confronted global and personal crises ranging from environmental collapse and migration to political repression, collective memory and the fragility of human connection. Koniarz’s film, a sensorial descent into a hostile, moon-like landscape that doubles as an indictment of colonial legacies and economic inequality while taking an unvarnished look at life in Bolivia's highest silver mine, was praised by the jury for its “hammered-in tactility”, and its images and sound that leave “sand under the nails and mineral dust on the tongue”, while also singling out Stanisław Cuske’s subterranean camerawork. However, Cuske himself did not leave Ji.hlava empty-handed, as he received the Best Cinematography Award, while Silver also secured the Award for Best Documentary Film in the Visegrad Region.

Among the other winners was Lisa Polster’s Bürglkopf, which scooped the Best Central and Eastern European Documentary Award for what the jury called a “stirring and empathetic act of witness”, depicting refugees enduring isolation in a remote Austrian mountain camp while holidaymakers ski nearby, a “visually arresting portrayal of prolonged, invisible trauma”. The Award for Original Approach went to Mexican filmmaker Diego Hernández for Skyless Roof, praised as “a fresh, dreamlike play on the boundaries between sleep and waking, fiction and reality”. Jean Boiron-Lajous’s Abysses and Wonders received both a Special Mention and the Best Editing Award, with jurors lauding the film’s “witty yet tender exploration of emotional pain through a playful cinematic rhythm”. Another Special Mention went to British duo Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn for Power Station, commended for its “humour, kindness and fearless activism”.

In the Czech Joy competition, where domestic films traditionally lock horns, the top gong went to Vitaly Mansky for Time to the Target [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], hailed by the jury as a “kaleidoscope of collective memory” and a powerful meditation on the war in Ukraine seen through the everyday life of Mansky’s native Lviv. The jury commended the film for its sensitivity to time and history, calling it “a love letter to a city that speaks for itself, a portrait of independence observed without pathos but with almost physical intensity”. A Special Mention and the Student Jury Award were presented to Martin Trabalík for What About Petey?, recognised for its “deep empathy and authenticity”. The Best Editing Award went to Michal Böhm for Unborn Father, praised as an “intimate, formally experimental reflection on memory and partnership”, while Martin Kollár’s Chronicle took home the Best Cinematography Award for its “contemplative patience and visual restraint”. Martin Stýblo’s sound design in Kapralova was acknowledged for evoking “the spirit and artistic legacy of composer Vítězslava Kaprálová through an intricate interplay of voice and music”, and Jan Strejcovský’s Is It Worth It!? received the Award for Original Approach for its playful dissection of the blurred lines between art, commerce and absurdity in contemporary creative life.

Festival-goers in Ji.hlava deemed Mr. Nobody Against Putin [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin to be their favourite flick, and so the directors took home the Audience Award. Best Virtual Reality Film was The Exploding Girl by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel, acclaimed for its layered metaphors of monstrosity and despair that channel the isolation many face today, drawing on pop culture without sliding into mere quotation. Finally, Ji.hlava honoured the Fundación Grupo Ukamau, the Bolivian collective rooted in Third Cinema, for its decades-long, community-centred filmmaking that rejects hierarchy and wields cinema as a tool of social change.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Opus Bonum

Best Film
Silver – Natalia Koniarz (Poland/Finland/Norway)

Special Mentions
Abysses and Wonders – Jean Boiron-Lajous (France)
Power Station – Hilary Powell, Dan Edelstyn (UK)

Best Central and Eastern European Documentary
Bürglkopf – Lisa Polster (Austria/Germany)

Award for Best Documentary Film in the Visegrad Region
Silver – Natalia Koniarz

Award for Original Approach
Skyless Roof – Diego Hernández (Mexico)

Best Editing
Xavier Sirven – Abysses and Wonders

Best Cinematography
Stanisław Cuske – Silver

Best Sound Design
Henry Sims – The Beauty of the Donkey [+leggi anche:
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Student Jury Award
While the Green Grass Grows: A Diary in Seven Parts – Peter Mettler (Switzerland/Canada)

Czech Joy

Best Film
Time to the Target [+leggi anche:
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Special Mention
What About Petey? – Martin Trabalík (Czech Republic)

Best Editing
Michal Böhm – Unborn Father (Czech Republic)

Best Sound Design
Martin Stýblo – Kapralova (Czech Republic)

Best Cinematography
Martin Kollár – Chronicle (Slovakia/Czech Republic)

Award for Original Approach
Is It Worth It!? – Jan Strejcovský (Czech Republic)

Student Jury Award
What About Petey? – Martin Trabalík

First Lights

Best Film
So Close, So Far – Yudi Zhu (Hong Kong/China)

Special Mention
The Cats, the Sea, and Everything Between – Karel Malkoun (Lebanon/Canada)

Best Cinematography
Ludmila Cimbůrková, Maja Penčič – Minimum Love (Slovenia/Czech Republic)

Award for Original Approach
Taste of Salt – Raaed Al Kour (Germany)

Testimonies

Best Film
The Tree of Authenticity [+leggi anche:
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Special Mention
Coexistence, My Ass! [+leggi anche:
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Special Mention for Best Film on Politics
Poland versus History – Joanna Grudzinska (France/Poland)

Special Mention for Best Film on Knowledge
Teenage Life Interrupted [+leggi anche:
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Fascinations

Best Film
Land of Barbar – Fredj Moussa (Tunisia)

Special Mentions
Transparencies – Mario Blaconà (Italy)
Branching Light and Flickers of a Dawn – Paula Malinowska (Slovakia)

Exprmntl.cz

Best Film
tiny film about rape – Nebe Motýlová (Czech Republic)

Special Mention
The Totalitarian Society of the Image – Zbyněk Baladrán (Czech Republic)

Audience Award
Mr. Nobody Against Putin [+leggi anche:
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Short Joy

Best Short Documentary Film
wedLOCK tradWIFE – Gabriele Neudecker (Austria)

Virtual Reality Film

Best VR Film
The Exploding Girl – Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel (France/Greece)

Special Mentions
Shelter – Sjors Swierstra, Ivanna Khitsinska (Netherlands/Ukraine)
Trans-composition – Shiuan Yan (Taiwan)

Contribution to World Cinema Award
Fundación Grupo Ukamau (Bolivia)