Emerging Producers programme launched

The 30th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival has announced the 2027 cohort of its Emerging Producers programme, which brings together 17 European participants and a Japanese producer, Kyoko Takenaka, to work on projects that connect personal experience with broader social change.

Themes and focus areas

The 15th edition of the programme focuses on themes such as mortality, exclusion, and political power, with Japan designated as the guest country. The 18 producers involved are exploring topics ranging from the lives of workers to technological change and evolving communities.

Selected projects from Ireland and Portugal

Louise Byrne from Ireland is developing a fiction feature, Why You Wanna Fly, about a Dublin teenager escaping domestic violence. Bruno Moraes Cabral from Portugal is producing I Lit Up and Danced, a film following transgender women approaching old age.

Projects from Moldova and Austria

Ion Gnatiuc from Moldova is co-producing Metanoia, a film exploring identity through Moldova's techno scene. Stephan Herzog from Austria is developing VILMA, a documentary dedicated to Vilma Steindling, a resistance fighter and Holocaust survivor.

Dutch and German projects

Rosalien Hollestelle from the Netherlands is working on Momentum, a film about workers installing offshore wind turbines. Friedemann Hottenbacher from Germany is co-producing The Eternal Soldier, an archival documentary about a soldier's repeated return to war.

Slovenian and Slovakian projects

Jerca Jerič from Slovenia is developing a film about theoretical physicists. Michaela Kaliská from Slovakia is producing Prometea, which examines mortality through the lens of horse cloning.

Projects from the UK and Serbia

Nađa Lapčević from the UK is developing Fallout, a film examining Britain's nuclear-testing legacy. The project focuses on veterans' descendants and their experiences.

Greek and Hungarian projects

Leonidas Liambeys from Greece is preparing Music of the Unseen: Tcha's Journey, about a blind musician learning laments in Epirus. Péter Nádori from Hungary has a documentary in pre-production for 2027.

Czech and Italian projects

Martina Netíková from the Czech Republic is developing Beyond the Fear, a film on psychedelic-assisted therapy for terminally ill patients. Isabella Rinaldi from Italy is working on The Trials, which follows the trial of a non-binary activist in Budapest.

Projects from Spain and Poland

André Robert from Spain is developing Echo of the Island, a film about rangers on a remote Pacific island. Justyna Rutkowska from Poland is producing Holland, a portrait of Agnieszka Holland.

Japanese and Ukrainian projects

Kyoko Takenaka from Japan is producing The Chimney Sweeper, a film about an 85-year-old worker restoring a bathhouse. Olha Tuharinova from Ukraine is developing Entr'actes, a tragicomic documentary about a retired concierge in Kyiv.

Projects from Montenegro

Đorđe Vojvodić from Montenegro is working on About a Brother, a short documentary he also directed. He is also developing his fiction feature debut, Nothing Will Be Named After Me, about a powerful man facing fading authority.