Five days to go until the start of the 26th Ji.hlava IDFF. The festival will open with 8th Day of the War by Ukrainian director Oksana Moiseniuk, which captures the outbreak of the Russian aggression through the eyes of Ukrainians in the Czech Republic. This year, the Contribution to World Cinema Award will go to Dušan Hanák, one of the key figures of the new wave of Czechoslovak cinema in the 1960s. The masterclass section will host Azerbaijani director Hilal Baydarov who will present his work.
The twenty-sixth edition of the festival will open with the film 8th Day of the War directed by Oksana Moiseniuk. The film was made on the eighth day of the Russian aggression in Ukraine. “8th Day of the War is not actually about the war, but about its impact on the Ukrainian diaspora in Czechia. We got the idea on the sixth day of the invasion, when as a representative of our community I was permanently in touch with other Ukrainians who had been living in the Czech Republic for a long time,” says the director. “We organized humanitarian collections, collected bulletproof vests for the army and medicines for civilians, assisted Ukrainian refugees at the border, helped them with accommodation and registration. We transformed the terror, fear and helplessness of what was happening in our country into consolidation of forces and help. The film is set in the Czech Republic, but there are thousands of Ukrainians in a similar situation in every corner of the world. Let the documentary be an ode to them. To those of my fellow citizens who have lived abroad for a long time, but are forever connected to Ukraine through their roots,” adds Oksana Moiseniuk, who will personally introduce the film at the opening ceremony of the festival. The film is part of the Czech Joy competition section.
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