The 24th edition of the annual Ji.hlava IDFF closed its doors. This year, the festival was unique in that it was held online and attracted more audience than in the previous editions. The festival programme presented 310 films and over 80 discussions with filmmakers. 5933 accreditations were issued for visitors, guests and journalists. The total views of festival films exceeded 56 thousand.
“Assuming that in one third of the cases the films were viewed by two people, we have reached almost 75,000 viewers. And in reality, the figures can be even much higher,” says Marek Hovorka, the Festival Director. The festival website registered over 1,300,000 visits during the festival days. Ji.hlava online offered 6 all-day live streams from the Ji.hlava Lighthouse and 20 live discussions of the Inspiration Forum. The online festival took place in partnership with DAFilms.cz – a VOD platform founded 15 years ago by the Ji.hlava IDFF.
“Three weeks before the start of the festival, we were still planning its offline version. We were expelled into the digital asylum after the closure of Czech cinemas. We are very happy to have managed to use the advantages of the Internet: our ‘traditional’ visitors wrote us that they had a unique chance to see more films at Ji.hlava than ever. And we also attracted new audiences. We are pleased to see that thanks to our daily live streams we created the community spirit and atmosphere of complicity so typical for Ji.hlava,” says Marek Hovorka highlighting the live festival service from the Ji.hlava Lighthouse, and adds: “The annual Industry Programme also took place online, with a record attendance by film professionals.”
24th Ji.hlava in (record-breaking) figures
This year’s 24th Ji.hlava IDFF issued 5933 accreditations – 10 percent more than last year. The number of both visitor and industry accreditations increased year-on-year, with half as many visitor passes issued than in the previous edition. This year’s 24th Ji.hlava IDFF welcomed 1461 film professionals – 20 percent more than last year, and 538 online bilateral meetings took place as part of the matchmaking service. 271 passes were issued to journalists. Overall, festival films registered over 56 thousand views. “Assuming that in one third of the cases the films were viewed by two people, we have reached almost 75,000 viewers. And in reality, the figures can be much higher,” says Marek Hovorka, the Festival Director. Live service on the festival YouTube channel from the Lighthouse studio, the Inspiration Forum programme and Ji.hlava for Kids registered almost 50 thousand views during the festival. The live stream from the festival Lighthouse on Facebook marked 150 thousand views. Inspiration Forum’s discussions on Facebook had 128 thousand views. Out of 310 screened films, 95 were shown in their world, 14 in European and 30 in international premiere. This year, films competed in 9 sections. 80 Q&As were scheduled after the film screenings.
You can find more info in press release below.
