Although the Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival has earned its reputation as one of the most prominent and visible forums for nonfictional cinema in Central and Eastern Europe, little gets written about the directorial lines of its overall curatorship. In their rush to write about the various films premiering in the quaint cinemas and theaters of this small town in Central Czechia, critics and journalists attending the festival often end up skipping (over) the festival's rich retrospectives and its experimental film programs, Fascinations (incidentally, Ji.hlava is a festival which welcomes not just hybrid works, but even fiction films, under certain circumstances); and precisely these were the festival’s elements that I found most exciting on both times that I had the opportunity to visit the festival.

Flavia Dima

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Film critic & journalist. Collaborates with local and international outlets, programs a short film festival - BIEFF, does occasional moderating gigs and is working on a PhD thesis about home movies. At Films in Frame, she writes the monthly editorial - The State of Cinema and is the magazine's main festival reporter.

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