In less than three weeks, the 27th Ji.hlava Documentary Festival will kick-off and this year's festival spot has just been released. It was created by the Catalan Albert Serra, who was listed by the legendary film magazine Cahiers du cinéma among the fifteen most important young directors of the last decade.
Director Albert Serra, referred to as the "discovery of the Cannes festival," is among the most original voices in contemporary cinema. "In one interview, I said that I decided to become a filmmaker so that I could make fun of the world. They put it in the headlines, and written in big letters, it seemed even more true to me. I think it's the healthiest attitude an artist can take. All my work stems from this principle. I love Ji.hlava. I love the festival," says Serra about this year's Ji.hlava spot.
Serra's work resists straightforward categorization and is often described as baroque, crazy, or unrestrained. "Albert Serra once said that a movie without mistakes is a bad movie and that he doesn't strive for technically perfect cinematography in his work, but for films with a statement. And by statement, Serra doesn't mean a simple message. His films are an intense physical experience, carried by a free and unmistakable signature," says Marek Hovorka, the festival director, about the author of the Ji.hlava festival spot. "This is exactly the kind of films and filmmakers Ji.hlava has been looking for long-term – perfect in authorship and daring to make films unlike anyone before them. Albert Serra is not a flaw in the system but a breath of fresh air and a rejuvenation of contemporary cinema. I'm very pleased that he immediately accepted our offer to create the festival spot," adds Hovorka.
Serra's films have long been of interest to festival audiences and juries. He recently garnered attention at the Cannes Film Festival with his notable entry Pacifiction (2022) last year, which was included in the main festival competition. In 2013, he won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival. A year later, in Ji.hlava, he presented his unconventional approach to filmmaking in his masterclass, and in the same year, he was also a jury member for the Between the Seas section. The Ji.hlava festival screened his films The Sun King (2018) and The Lord Worked Wonders in Me (2011).
In the past, the Ji.hlava festival spot was created by French director Jean-Luc Godard, American director Godfrey Reggio, Icelandic film and theatre music composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, Czech director Jan Němec, and Slovak director Viera Čákanyová. Last year, the spot was made by internationally respected Roberto Minervini, an Italian director living in the United States, whose retrospective was featured in Ji.hlava in 2020.
The full Ji.hlava festival programme will be revealed on October 11.
