‘The House With No Exit’ (‘DŮM bez východu’) was yesterday named the best Czech film at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, and ‘Presidentka’, about the former Slovak head of state Zuzana Caputova, won Opus Bonum, the main festival section of the festival, in which 13 foreign films competed.
The prize for contribution to world cinema went to Tsai Ming-liang, a representative of the Taiwanese New Wave.
“We are honoured that this year’s World Cinema Award will be presented to Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang, one of the most important Asian filmmakers ever,” said festival director Marek Hovorka. “In his films he shows people in their vulnerability and loneliness, restoring dignity to people on the margins of society, often migrants working in the most menial jobs.”
‘The House With No Exit’, directed by Tomas Hlavacek, is about the poverty trade and the practices used against tenants by a hostel operator in Brno-Zidenice. The documentary depicts life in one of the houses in the district, and the tenants’ efforts to seek redress for their treatment. The filmmakers present the house as representative of hundreds of similar hostels in the Czech Republic.
“This is a shocking film that manages to bring together material filmed over many years into a whole in which time disappears and a convincing picture of individual crime and systemic failures remains,” the five-member jury said in its assessment. “A film that, against the backdrop of the racketeering tactics of a poverty trader, captures the despair and the growing voice of the Roma protagonists living in the House With No Exit.”
‘Presidentka’, directed by Marek Sulik, tells the story of Zuzana Caputova’s five-year term as Slovak head of state. “It also deals with the ethical and political changes that Slovak society has undergone during that time. The film portrays a personal and intimate cinematic portrait with a special emphasis on gender and family dynamics and the overwhelming political campaign of the leader of the opposition, populist Prime Minister Robert Fico. The documentary gives the audience a deep insight into the challenges facing women in politics today,” the three-member jury said in its assessment. The film will be released in Czech and Slovak cinemas on 14 November.
The award for best debut this year went to Daniela Meresa Rusnokova’s ‘The Grey Zone’. The Audience Award went to the film ‘Dajori’ by Martin Pav and Nicolas Kourek.
Ji.hlava Online starts on Sunday evening. It will run until 17 November and will feature more than 150 films from this year’s programme, including most of the winning films.
The festival was held for ten days for the first time this year. From 25 October to 3 November, it offered 340 films in both competition and non-competition sections, including 129 world premieres, 23 international premieres, and 11 European premieres.
