Two days ago our grandchild, who is 14 years of age, came to visit. He was wearing one of the many festival t-shirts that I have passed on to him. One from the Ji.hlava FF. It said 2004 and it made me remember that I came to Ji.hlava every year in the beginning of this century, when the Ex Oriente training session took place here, in the cosy provincial town with an impressive film festival. Now I am back to be a juror for film projects from Europe, the US and Asia. A lot has changed since I was here but the atmosphere is the same when it comes to meeting old and new film friends.

Take a look at the photo from a classical restaurant with classical Czech food, a beer and coffee and a slivovice. Friends from Azerbaijan that I visited in April – Baku, a wonderful experience of advising filmmakers on their projects. Now we met to talk, the man in the middle is Alemdar, who made a fine film with himself and his grandmother as protagonists. And the woman is the very talented Aynur, director and camerawoman, talked a lot with her when in Baku and now again. A pleasure. Also present is the producer of Alemdar’s upcoming film that he is pitching here in Ji.hlava, Sarkhan Jafarly. And the man who took the photo is Matlab Muktharov, director and editor, who has a film in the competition, Short Joy.

The title of the film is “Palaces of Memory”, 23 mins., he gave me a link and I watched it this morning. Here is the synopsis from the catalogue:

“Against the backdrop of his hometown and momentous historical events, the director seeks the answer to a seemingly simple question: What is my very first memory? As the film progresses, the audiovisual topography of memory transforms into a labyrinth where trauma and disappointment may lurk around every corner, and yet we continue to navigate through it. 

“The director, who wants to return to the most interesting period of his childhood, wanders the streets of the city where he was born and raised, to find traces of those years. This trip brings him to the place of his first memory.”

I would add that the film witnesses that Matlab is a Filmmaker with a big F. It is playful, it has a balanced commentary from the maker, it appeals to all of us, what do we remember from early childhood, it takes us back in time and takes us around the city, where he grew up, buildings from Soviet time, cats and dogs – and a wonderful mother, who denies that he can remember back to his first years and helps with some photos, and says “why don’t you make a film about some funny moments”. And a little boy who asks him what and why he is filming and ends up saying that maybe you are filming your dream!?

Lovely meeting and great film!

We are delighted to announce the winners of the DokuTam category at the DokuBaku International Documentary Film Festival 2025!

DokuTam Award Winners – DokuBaku 2025

The DokuTam section is dedicated to showcasing the most compelling feature-length documentaries from Azerbaijan and around the world. It is a platform where authentic voices, bold artistic visions, and unique local perspectives come together to reflect the richness and diversity of our shared reality.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the award-winning filmmakers for their outstanding achievements and invaluable contribution to the growth of documentary cinema in Azerbaijan.

Your films inspire audiences, spark meaningful conversations, and capture the spirit of our times with honesty and creativity.

✨ Congratulations once again to all the winners!

🏆 Main DokuTam Award

At the Door of the House, Who Will Come Knocking | Maja Novakovic | Serbia | 1:24:00

Jury Statement:

The jury unanimously agreed on a film that stands out as truly unique in today’s documentary landscape. It unfolds slowly, with images of extraordinary beauty that resemble paintings. At its center is a lonely soul and his horse, yet beneath the surface lies another layer — a vision embedded in the old man’s inner world, as he waits or dreams about what may come.

The Main Prize of the DokuTam category goes to: At the Door of the House, Who Will Come Knocking by Maja Novakovic.

✨ Special Jury Mentions &Jury’s Special Mention for an Azerbaijani Feature-Length Documentary

My Home | Seyran Mahmudoğlu | Azerbaijan | 1:09:40

Jury Statement:

My Home is a profoundly heartfelt film about the meaning of “home.” It tells a story that resonates widely across post-Soviet countries. The jury found it important to celebrate this nostalgic and familiar narrative. A Special Mention goes to: My Home by Seyran Mahmudoğlu.

✨ Dad’s Lullaby | Lesia Diak | Ukraine | 1:18:25

Jury Statement:

For offering an intimate, insider’s portrait of a man returning home after years of war in Ukraine; for filming him and his family with tenderness and proximity; and for the powerful cinematic interplay between what we see in front of the camera and what we feel behind it —

A Special Mention goes to: Dad’s Lullaby by Lesia Diak.

✨ Double Trouble | Emilia Śniegoska | Poland | 1:11:00

Jury Statement:

For taking us to a remarkable place — a Polish village in Romania — and introducing us to two extraordinary women living in isolation yet in deep daily connection. Through their dialogue with memory, the present, and the future, and with humor despite the hardship of everyday life, the film reveals a tender and powerful story.A Special Mention goes to: Double Trouble by Emilia Śniegoska.

We sincerely thank the DokuTam Jury — Giuseppe Gariazzo, Polina Herman, and Tue Steen Müller — for their hard work, thoughtful insights, and dedication.

On the photo you see festival director Imam Hasanov on stage, on the screen me motivating the main winner, At the Door of the House, Who Will Come Knocking by Maja Novakovic.

… at a press conference this afternoon, online, with IDFA veteran Isabel Arrate Fernandez, appointed artistic director after Orwa Nyrabia, doing the presentation together with Head of Program Joost Dammen and Head of New Media Caspar Sonnen.

“As filmmakers and artists from all over the world share their work, they remind us that there is a space for reflection and connection. They bring other perspectives. They open conversations about cinema—about what touches us, what feels urgent, what truly matters right now. Through them, we get to be part of the courage of filmmakers and artists who refuse to give up—who keep pursuing their creative vision, and their commitment to stories that they feel matter,” IDFA’s Artistic Director Isabel Arrate Fernandez said of the IDFA 2025 program during our press conference. Click and you can see the presentation.

I list the lucky filmmakers, who have been selected for the two main competitions, the International and the Envision:

The International Competition (click and you get more info on the films):

Selected films: International Competition   

• All My Sisters, dir. Massoud Bakhshi (Austria/France/Germany/Iran), 78’ – World Premiere 
• December, dir. Lucas Gallo (Argentina/Uruguay), 105’ – World Premiere 
• Flana, dir. Zahraa Ghandour (Iraq/France/Qatar), 85’ – European Premiere 
• Flood, dir. Katy Scoggin (United States), 75’ – International Premiere 
• A Fox Under a Pink Moon, dir. Mehrdad Oskouei (Iran/France/United Kingdom/United States/Denmark), 76’ – World Premiere 
• The Kartli Kingdom, dir. Tamar Kalandadze, Julien Pebrel (Georgia/France), 105’ – World Premiere 
• Mailin, dir. María Silvia Esteve (Argentina/France/Romania), 89’ – World Premiere 
• Palimpsest: The Story of a Name, dir. Mary Stephen (France/Hong Kong/Taiwan), 109’ – European Premiere 
• The Shipwrecked, dir. Diego Gutiérrez (Netherlands), 115’ – World Premiere 
• Silent Flood, dir. Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine/Germany), 90’ – World Premiere 
• Synthetic Sincerity, dir. Marc Isaacs (United Kingdom), 72’ – World Premiere 
• Those Who Watch Over, dir. Karima Saïdi (Belgium/France/Qatar), 88’ – European Premiere

Still from “Holy Destructors” by Aiste Žegulytė, Lithuania.

Here is a repeat of a review I wrote recently in connection with the screening of the film in Malmö at Nordisk Panorama:

Sorry, dear reader, I have to go to the box with superlatives. Again. You might argue that I always do so, and indeed this was what Allan Berg and I agreed upon, when we started this film blog: We don’t take time to write about bad films, well sometimes we have been a bit critical, but as a general rule – we have been writing about films we like. And I intend to keep this line after Allan is no longer here…

In this case I am happy to express my full enthusiasm. The film by Swedish Ragnhild Ekner is unique. Not only does it give a completely different picture of the ultras – around the world, what an achievement! – but the way it does it as a Film is so convincing!

Let me start with Ekner’s commentary through the whole film. It is not a wall-to-wall speak, it comes when needed, it is so well written, sometimes almost as a poem, sometimes informative, sometimes very personal, she is a supporter herself and she has been there, on the stadium with friends, yes friendship is a word that comes back again and again, in the images where the ultras meet, where they make their banners, where they sing, where they are involved in confrontations with the police. Ekner speaks and lets ultras from the countries, she has filmed in, express diverse opinions and impressions around the phenomenon.

The Polish talks about the reaction from the PiS government and the police. An Indonesian young woman (you don’t see any of those speaking, they are anonymous) talks about the women going together having established their own group, maybe the part from Indonesia is the one that stands out, but also the Egyptian is strong, a man talks about how the ultras joined the revolution confronting the military… And the Italian, and the English where the director has visited a non-league club, not the Premier League, and Sweden of course.

I could go on praising the film that has a, yes, let me say fantastic composed music score that fits the sequences perfectly. No complaints about camera work and editing.

To conclude, thanks for giving me and a huge audience I guess and hope, a superb cinematic experience!

Sweden, Finland and Denmark, 2025, 89 mins.

… took place October 3-4 at the Filmclub Capitol Bolzano, the city where the unique Zelig-School for Documentary is to be found. I have been teaching at the school since 2007, where I had the privilege to follow students for the 3 years, the education runs – before that I had been to the school twice. So as a veteran, who has scaled down, I went down to see the graduation films of students I had met 3 years before. I had no idea of the films but as before I had high expectations and I was not disappointed. Thematically there is a wonderful diversity, the same with the duration – contrary to more formal schools there is a difference, “films should have the duration that the material invites you to have”, a sentence for film school films. When you get out in the professional life, the students will for sure meet time slot demands from television but also from festivals nowadays.

Look at the photo (@Matteo Groppo): Students with diplomas in hand, students behind films on the children’s film genre, on bunkers and nature from WW2 (including some footage from the West Coast of Denmark), a family film – three generations and love, an activist’s reflections, a social film on bread making by voluntaries, a clown family and its creative skills, father and daughter, a city & region “punished” by earthquake consequences. Some informational and playful, some more in the experimental direction, still playful, some emotional, some charming, some surprising. Storytelling by talents! A pleasure to watch in the cinema. Big screen, big applause, flowers, short q&a’s, Atmosphere and films ready to have their premiere out there in the festival circuit. Cross my fingers.

And it was the emotional goodbye homage to Heidi Gronauer, the director of ZeLIG since 1990, responsible for the development of the various documentary related projects and productions the school realizes. And on top of that: Since 2004 she is Head of the Project ESoDoc – European Social Documentary.

Heidi Gronauer’s jobs will be taken over two documentary experts/ addicts, who have been at the school for years: Thomas Righetti (Esodoc) and Emanuele Vernillo. The latter introduces himself like this for the article of October 5 BELOW posted on Linkedin:

Project manager for the three years filmmaking education at Zelig -School for documentary / Film Programmer / Filmmaker / Alina’s father / winelover.

“These last two days at the ZeLIG Film Fest have been intense and beautiful. They reminded us why this school matters so deeply.

We can’t imagine an educational approach or a commitment that isn’t rooted in a wild, unconditional love for cinema — for its power to move, to inspire, to unite, to speak to hearts and minds.

ZeLIG films stand out for the diversity of their languages and forms, and for the depth and urgency of the stories they tell. Every student who passes through the school emerges transformed: their gaze becomes sharper, their heart more attuned, their love for culture, for art, for others grows stronger.

Making documentaries is a way of being in the world. It means turning on the antennae of the heart and sharpening our gaze to dig into reality, into its cracks, to weave connections and create peace. We nurture the dream of opening our doors to more and more people, because we believe that a better world can also be built by learning to look beyond the surface — by allowing ourselves to feel, and to recognize different ways of telling stories.

Over the years, an entire local ecosystem devoted to cinema — public institutions, film commissions, festivals, networks of producers and film professionals — has recognized the school’s value and stressed its importance.

And in this historical moment, when we once again find ourselves surrounded by the smoke and noise of weapons, we can still breathe thanks to the return of human tides filling our squares and streets. It is then that the work we have been doing for over thirty years takes on a new light and allows us to hope that, perhaps, another world is not only possible — it is still imaginable, and it can still be told.

This is why ZeLIG – School for documentary matters. This is why Cinema matters.”

Thank you Emanuele for your enthusiasm that reflects the importance of the film school.

24 documentary projects were pitched at this year’s Nordisk Panorama, edition number 32, with the participation of “Documentary Stakeholders” from 18 countries – broadcasters, sales agents, film institute consultants, and with a lot of potential co-producers, some observers with their own projects, present in the room, Moriska Paviljongen in Malmö. Two days of pitching, 15 minutes per project, half of the time for those who present the projects, half of the time for comments from those stakeholders, who sit at the table.

I attended – from a room in the Scandic Hotel, that streamed the Forum on a television screen. The reason why… there was a camera focus on moderators, on pitching teams, on trailers, on the stakeholders talking. Made it easy for me to get an idea of the projects to convey – some of them, those I liked – my impressions to you, who were there or are curious to know what happens in the Nordic documentary scene.

The second day (22-23 September) was the best. There was a flow in the presentation, the moderators seemed to be more free in the their comments to those around the table, always supporting the pitching teams and – first of all – many projects were interesting and well presented. Like the first one, “Mystery Package”, production A5 Film, Norway, director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen: from where does the xmas package come and has come from every year for 22 years? Sent to the grandparents. Two young kids, the grandchildren, become the detectives to find out. The filmmakers present – in the catalogue – the film to be “heartfelt, humorous, and thrilling…”. I believe in them. Release January 2026.

Veterans Gréta Ólafsdóttir and Susan Muska, production la Chana Iceland, are always very powerful on stage, also this time with Elisabeth Thoroddsen as director of “Ukulellur”, (PHOTO Jakob Johannson) with thirteen lesbians, who form a ukulele band to play and sing about queer life, stereotypes, discrimination and resistance, as the catalogue says. Humor and seriousness will be in the film as it was on the stage – the team left playing a tune on a ukulele. Release June 2027.

Finnish Kajo Productions presented with Sanna Liinamaa as director a very strong and important story called “The Runaway Brain”, an animation documentary with Nikke Liinamaa, who has Down syndrome with “a brain that walks, comments, reacts and escapes”; the trailer or rather the sketches shown in the clip made me think that here is something very important and new – to be invited into an inner world of a young man, who expresses himself as an artist. The team said that in the documentary part of the film and accompanying the animation from him, they will try to make Nikke speak. Necessary? I am not sure. Release July 2027.

Ida Kat Balslev was there with Sidsel Lønvig Siersted (her production company) as producer presenting, in pre-producton, “My Rebel Heart”, having on screen an excellent trailer that introduces the young actress Yara, who lives in Ramallah, The director has followed her for 6 years, an actress and an activist, ahh I hope so much for a good life for the young woman and her family, and I have no doubt about the film, that will finish the shooting, when Yara and her friends have finished their play about “their lives, challenges and dreams for the future”. It will be an important film. Release January 2027.

Swedish/French Morgane Dziuria-Petit came on stage just after, another talent with a project in development, production GõtaFilm, “The Days I Will Forget”, a father-daughter film, again an artistic trailer, a budget of almost 1million Euros, 38% covered, the father an alcoholic since he was 15 (!), who stops, or does he, moved from France to Sweden wanting to become a film director. Like his daughter who writes in the catalogue: “Every day my dad wakes up and fights the same battle. He is not done with alcoholism; he is always trying to stop. So I recreated the day of his failed shoot. Again and again. Until we felt trapped in an eternal loop, giving him a new chance at his dream everyday… Patrick (the father) confronts alcoholism anew, while Morgane grapples with her own hopes for their future”. Morgane said at the pitching that she has cancer. What does that mean for the film? For me, who had an alcoholic father, who had to leave his actor career, also because of that, this is a film I am looking forward to, indeed. Release May 2026.

And then, with so much pleasure for me, Virpi Suutari went to the stage, I am an admirer of her work, and her, due to her presence at the Magnificent7 film festival in Belgrade, where we saw “Garden Lovers” and “Once Upon a Time in the Forest”. Virpi has made her own production company, Euphoria Film, good name, why not… as in the latter she chooses, with “Crossing the River” that describes, according to Virpi, an environmental crime committed by a logger, who crossed the river with logs, causing, Virpi says, “massive damage to a river pearl mussel population”. The logger did his job for a forest company. A court case is coming up. Virpi will portray the loggers and present what is at stake: nature and man. Virpi tells stories in images, I am expecting another visual gem. Release March 2027.

And a flashback to Day One, this monday, mentioning a couple of projects that stood out. And let me also comment on the panelists around the table. Good to see so many from German ARD channels, connected to arte, to discover some – new for me – active ladies from SVT and NRK, well all the Nordic countries were represented and I hope for the pitching teams that they had good meetings in the afternoons. That contacts were made that can turn into some funding that they were all asking for.

“The Greatest Illusion” from Norway with Benjamin Ree, production company Medieoperatørene, Ingvil Giske and Danish coproducer Monica Hellström (Ström Pictures) could be called the highlight of the Forum 2025. The director stood behind “The remarkable Life of Ibelin” and “The Painter and the Thief”. About the latter, reviewed on this site, I wrote “…it’s a thriller about stolen art, a psychological drama, a love story, shot over years, with characters that develop, to say the least, a dramaturgy that breaks rules, with several twists, it’s lovely off mainstream documentary storytelling. I was hooked from start till end.” This is what I hope and expect from “The Greatest Illusion” that Ree presented in Malmõ, precise presentation, a lot of positive remarks from the so-called stakeholders, but as the representative from DR said, “I would like to take part but if Netflix comes in…” referring to the Ibelin-film that can be seen on Netflix. Let me quote what the new one is about, from the catalogue: … a magical and emotional journey about the illusionist Alexx Alexxander, known for his incredible skill and charisma, but behind the facade lies traumas and fading memories of his childhood. It all started when his mother disappeared… Lot of archive, family videos, including his siblings. The father is convicted for the murder. It’s tabloid stuff but Ree has shown his talent for making a creative and honest treatment of visual material. Release May 2027.

And finally the Finnish-Estonian co-production “Creaturama – Epic of the Animals” by Juha Suonpää, director and Liis Nimik, producer. Juha was at Baltic Sea Docs at the beginning of this month, won two awards for his pitch, one from Sheffield DocFest and the other from TV3 Group award so the film will be broadcast. The project is convincing and unique with animals “filming”, it can be magic as we saw with his “Lynx Man”, where cameras were placed on different stops in the forest, I think Juha said he has 20.000 or was it 200.000 clips that is to be put together into… that´s where, so to say, doctors disagree. Juha aims at a feature duration but less could do, I think, and/or, I was totally hooked with “Lynx Man” when it was shown in Belgrade at the Magnificent7. Sooo theatrical release of feature duration and shorter versions for television? Anyway, it’s a gem. Release November 2027.

That’s all. It was a good year with many films-to-be of high quality. Themes from the crazy world we live in and many projects that dig into family issues. All in a very polite and correct tone, perfect catalogue, perfect technique, have no idea of the individual meetings. We will hear from the pitchers I am sure.