The 28th edition of the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival began this Friday evening with the premiere of the portrait of former Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová. The author of the film, Marek Šulík, said that he wanted to release it only after the end of her mandate, so that it would not influence the political situation in the country. The film was watched by a sold-out theater in Jihlava. The ceremony was moderated by Apolena Rychlíková and Lukáš Grygar.
The film called Prezidentka will be released in Czech and Slovak cinemas on November 14. At the Jihlava festival, which will last until November 3, the audience will be able to see it four more times. “We are very happy that we can introduce the President. In our opinion, it is proof of how a documentary film can show things that, for example, remain hidden when reading newspapers,” says festival director Marek Hovorka. According to him, the news reveals the everydayness of the president’s work.
Šulík met Čaputová when she was a lawyer for the civic association Via Iuris. “When she ran, I really liked the way she spoke in the first debates. I got the feeling that it would be fascinating to be close to a politician in such a high position for five years,” says the documentary maker.
The film began to be made during the second round of the presidential election. In the following five years, Šulík shot more than 350 hours of footage. That is also why it was difficult for him to choose the 109 minutes that the film ultimately takes. “I tried to follow a rough chronology of the mandate. Life itself built the dramaturgy very precisely,” says the author.
Over the course of five years, he got to know Čaputová as a hard-working and responsible perfectionist who makes sure that she understands the things she talks about publicly. “And I don’t think that the image she gave of herself in public is too different from the Zuzana I got to know in quotes behind closed doors. Of course, I don’t know her intimately. But professionally, in that performance, in thinking about the agenda that she has in front of him, he was a very honest person,” adds Šulík.
Zuzana Čaputová was Slovakian president from 2019 to 2024. The film about her is included in the Opus Bonum competition section at the festival, which evaluates new world documentaries. The organizers will award the world’s best and works competing in other categories at the closing ceremony on November 2.
However, they already awarded some prizes at the opening ceremony on Friday. The best short film went to the Indian film When a Child Cries. The Respect Award for the best audiovisual report was won by Darja Stomatová and cameraman Ján Schürger from Czech Television for their report on the war in Ukraine called Bridge between Lives.
The award for the best documentary book goes to the title If I Die, Let It Be a Story. Its authors look at the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinians from the perspective of the Palestinians. The Czech-Palestinian artist Yara Abu Aataya, Yasar Abu Ghosh, an anthropologist of Palestinian origin working in the Czech Republic, Pavel Barša, philosopher and political scientist, David Scharf, a contributor to the Voxpot and Druhá sněvna servers, and publicist Prokop Singer, who also previously collaborated with Voxpot, contributed to the book. According to the judges, the book is a real document of its time. The APA World Excellence Award for producer contribution goes to Zuzana Mistríková, a Slovak producer also active in the Czech Republic.
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Reporter Darja Stomatová spoke about the war in Ukraine in the program Spotlight in mid-October. | Video: The Spotlight Team