Moving forward, step by step: Marek Hovorka on 28 years of Ji.hlava
As director of the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, Marek Hovorka is one of the most important people in the field of documentaries in Czechia. The 44-year-old started the event while still at school and today it draws many thousands of film buffs to the usually sleepy Vysočina town every year. Ahead of the 28th edition of Ji.hlava I caught up with Hovorka to discuss the festival’s development, changes this year – and the outlook for the future.
It’s quite well known that you started the Ji.hlava film festival when you were still at school, with a group of friends. What was the motivation for you to start the festival?
“Yes, once upon a time, you know [laughs]. I just wanted to watch documentary films in the cinema and I realised, as did my friends, organising the first edition, that we were not alone.
“There were many viewers at the first edition who wanted to watch documentary films in a cinema, with the directors – and to share it as an event, a celebration of documentary filmmaking.”
What did it actually look like, the first edition in 1997?
“It was a small event: three days in one cinema with less than 300 seats. But really from this first edition the cinema was crowded; hundreds of young people came.
“And from this very first edition it was obvious that those people who are interested in documentary films are special, that they are taking more steps than is usual to discover something new and thinking about the world we are living in.
“For example, the editor-in-chief of the weekly Respekt, Erik Tabery, was one of those at that time students who attended the festival. And many, many other strong personalities started to include Ji.hlava in their autumn calendar.”
Was Jiří Havelka, the actor and director, who has moderated several of the opening and closing ceremonies at Ji.hlava, also one of the group who started it?
“Yes, definitely. We were schoolmates from the age of nine, so we know each other very well. For the last three years of high school we were sitting beside each other in the furthest corner in the class.
“It was obvious that those people who are interested in documentaries are taking more steps than is usual to discover something new.”
“So of course it was natural that we were also organising the festival together.
“And I still can feel this documentary inspiration in his film or theatre works till today.”
When did you first start having international guests at Ji.hlava?
“The very first time was the third edition in 1999 and it was attended by Viktor Kossakovsky; he received the first award for contribution to world cinema.”
Since that time of course you’ve had many interesting foreign guests. For you, who have been some of the standout ones?
“It’s really not easy to say. But maybe because of his age, it was really special to meet Manoel de Oliveira, who attended the festival for its 10th edition, so it was 2006.
“At that time he was something like 97. So when I moderated a talk with him, you understood that you were talking to somebody who was a youngster when cinema was young.
“So he was really going to the cinema – the same way we are going to the cinema today – and it was really a unique feeling to talk to someone who was connected to the roots of cinematography.
“And of course he was very educated and very, I would say, smart.
“Also Richard Leacock was an exceptional guest, because he was at the time very much fascinated by digital cameras and the digitalisation of film.
“At that time it was a rebellion, because most filmmakers wanted to keep 35-millimetre prints and everything they were used to.
“But he was saying, No, no, no, I want everybody to be able to make a film, for a camera be like a pen. And now with our smartphones that has happened, so he was really a pioneer of this digital way of thinking through film.
“I’m very happy that he somehow pushed the audience at Ji.hlava to think this way.”
When did you begin having a competition, or competitions?
“I think it’s typical of our festival that it develops step by step. So we didn’t start with something bombastic and global, but step by step we are developing the festival and trying to adjust to the needs of documentary filmmakers, or the needs of the audience, or the needs of students – even in general what documentary filmmaking needs are.
“That’s also, for example, why we started to publish books and the DOK.REVUE magazine and other things.
“So the first competition was, I think, in 2000 or 2001. It was the national competition Czech Joy, and then let’s say every two years we added a new competition.
“The festival needs to be attractive for somebody arriving for the first time, but also for visitors who have been attending every year for 10 years.”
“At that time we had a competition for films coming from Central Europe. Then it was Central and Eastern Europe.
“Then we started to do an international competition, a first films competition, a competition for experimental films, and of course we have a special programme for short films.
“So now we have many competitions. The last one we added is called Testimonies and it’s for documentary films which are more like blockbuster-style, topic-oriented.
“This is something which is important for us when we’re making the programme: The festival needs to be attractive for somebody who is arriving for the first time, but also for visitors who have been attending every year for 10 years.
“Because of course you develop your sensitivity for documentary filmmaking over the years.”
Running a film festival isn’t just about selecting cool films – there’s also a lot of interaction with political figures, the region; you’re trying to obtain money from the city of Jihlava, I guess. When you were 20 or so how did these local politicians see you, this young guy coming in asking for money?
“I think it has not changed much from that time.
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“But my perspective is to always try to find people who think in a longer perspective, because if they think in a longer perspective, they usually understand what we are doing – and what might be the benefits of this event for the town, for the region, for the Czech Republic and for documentary filmmaking in general.”
What kind of documentaries most speak to you as a viewer?
“More than 3,000 films are submitted to our programme every year, and also every month we are at different film festivals, watching films there and thinking about their selection.
“So for me it’s really interesting to see something I do not expect. This is really challenging, even today – to think if it’s serious or not serious, if it might be a successful way of, you know, crossing borders, or not.
“For me it’s really interesting to see something I do not expect.”
“Also what’s interesting for me is following the authors. Because I was shocked to read that 70 percent of directors who make a feature film debut do not continue with a second feature.
“So those who filmmakers are really making their third, fourth, fifth film – that’s real dedication and they are real authors.
“And it’s always interesting to see how they are developing their style and how they are moving forward in terms of cinema.”
Documentary film is a kind of minority interest. Do you ever wish that documentaries were more popular, more mainstream?
“It’s changing and it’s been changing for quite a long time. But of course, still, it’s different in terms of financing.
“Documentary filmmakers are paid much less… or the same filmmakers if they are doing a documentary film are paid much less than if they are doing feature films.
“That’s also the reason why many documentary filmmakers move to hybrid films and they are then asking for support as fiction cinema.
“It’s questionable what’s documentary and what’s not documentary. We can see for example on Netflix that there’s huge production of documentary films, or documentary content – and it’s popular, it’s watched.
“But of course in the end if you ask critics or people in general what the best film they’ve seen in the last year is, most of them will answer with a fiction film.
“So it’s a question of mindset, that we still somehow see film as fiction film, but if we really have time to think about it, there are no borders like this – it’s really about cinema itself and there are many documentary films which are strong.
“Also my experience with people living in Jihlava is that if they decide they go to festival screenings they are amazed; they would not expect that this is documentary cinema, that it’s so much alive and talking to them, so contemporary.
“So sometimes it’s more about promotion and the way people can get to watch these films than about the films themselves.”
This year’s edition of Ji.hlava is going to be the longest ever at 10 days. Why are you making it longer?
“Yes, it’s a really unique year, because we are extending the festival from six to 10 days. We first realised in 2019, just before Covid, that the infrastructure of accommodation and also how many films we can screen and repeat meant that there are limits we cannot cross if we won’t change the concept of the festival.
“During the pandemic we had different challenges, though we were happy that we succeeded, and then after another two years the situation was back.
“My experience with people living in Jihlava is that if they go to festival screenings they are amazed.”
“We realised that we needed to change something, because people were staying 30 kilometres from the town and it was very problematic for everybody.
“Also people wanted to get to screenings and they were crowded, so I believe 10 days will make it easier for everybody to find good accommodation, in Jihlava, or very close to Jihlava.
“We will screen most of the films two times and the Czech competition films three times. So I believe if people decide to go to the festival to watch certain films they will succeed.”
Unlike most people, you have really had a big impact on your hometown and brought something important to the place that you come from. Is that really gratifying for you?
“Yes, at least for a few days I’m happy that my hometown is changed.
“I’m happy that I hear from many people that it’s an important moment in the life of the town and in their lives; that Jihlava can have this type of festive and very live atmosphere.
“Yeah, I think it’s a good thing about the Czech Republic that culture is decentralised, and that in most of the capitals of the regions there are, for example, important film festivals.”
I’ve been to most editions of Ji.hlava in the last 10, 11 years. There’s a very student vibe and it often feels to me like half of FAMU [film school] has just moved to this small town. But I guess the students stay the same age and you get older – do you ever feel an age difference with the audiences, as the years go by?
“That’s a good question, because this year we’ll have the 28th edition, so those people who started to attend the festival in around 2000 and some of them are still coming back.
“They have kids and maybe their kids are attending the festival now as well. So Ji.hlava became a festival for more than one generation.
“We also think about this seriously, so we have several programmes for kids and teenagers – we want to show them what kind of energy can come from cinema.
“We realised we needed to change something, because people were staying 30 kilometres from the town.”
“Also this year we are starting with a special programme – communication and suggestions – for seniors, to bring them to the festival as well.
“We are also addressing people with different types of handicaps, because we really think that the festival should be a place for everybody, and connecting these generations is something that’s enriching.”
How would you like to see Ji.hlava develop in the coming years? Let’s say over the next 10, 15 years.
“We always try to connect well-known and established filmmakers with newcomers and the new blood of cinema – and this is something that I would definitely go for in the coming years, and work with this more.”
Would you like this to be the only job you ever have in your whole life?
“[Laughs] I have more jobs than one. But I don’t know, I’m not thinking about it like this.
“It’s the same if you ask a teacher if they want to teach their whole life, or ask a doctor if they want to be a doctor their whole life. Nobody knows what life will bring.
“But for me I wouldn’t describe it as just a job. For the festival, and for me, it’s important to be innovative and think about the festival every year in a little bit of a different way, move it forward.
“Doing it differently also means that we are learning new things every year. And that’s interesting, even for me – doing it again and again.
“Because we are not machines, and we don’t want to think of it as just some kind of technical thing that we have to do.
“Also, you know, making the selection is like fishing a pond – you never know what you will catch in the end.”
The 28th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival runs from October 25 to November 3.
