Communications & Media students visit to the International Documentary Film Festival in Jihlava
by Alex Went, on Dec 15, 2016 11:38:24 AM
Students of the BA (Hons) Communications & Media Studies programme recently visited the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival. The visit was organized by lecturer Andrea Pruchova, who tells us more about her involvement:
"There are only a few international cultural events which are able to place the Czech Republic at the centre of attention of the most talented film professionals from all around the world, but the International Documentary Film Festival Jihlava is one of them. This year, the film festival celebrated its 20th anniversary and as usual, it offered a progressive film programme as well as many political discussions, conferences, masterclasses and debates by film professionals.
"Based on my previous close collaboration with the festival team, I was honoured to participate in this year's edition by moderating an exciting discussion with Charlie Phillips, Head of Documentaries at the Guardian, as well as some of the Q&A sessions following the film screenings. As always, it was an amazing opportunity to learn from the best professionals in the documentary film industry and therefore, I wanted our students of Media & Communication to experience it as well.
"This spring an agreement was made between the film industry department of the festival - led for several years by Jarmila Outratová - and our School of Media and IT. Our students have so far participated in a media and documentary writing course, as well as attending some specialized events for film professionals. Here are the observations of one of our students, Kristina Bakeeva:
Every year, a small city in the Czech Republic turns into a film house with many doors of opportunities. Jihlava IDFF opened for me a new perspective - I would never have expected this visit to inspire so much motivation about making films. The city was full of specific characters, energy and magic. Mostly I was inspired by people. For instance, I had an opportunity to meet Philip Zimbardo, who is famous for the Stanford University Experiment. And I shared a talk with Charlie Philips, Head of Documentaries at the Guardian. This people gave me a lot of hope and motivation in what I am doing today. I cannot wait for the next edition of Jihlava IDFF!"