Ji.hlava awards Docu Talents projects in Sarajevo, selects Emerging Producers 2025

By Ben Dalton2024-08-19T10:30:00+01:00

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Source: Sarajevo Film Festival

‘Baltic UXO’

Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival has awarded two prizes at Sarajevo Film Festival’s Docu Talent Awards, and selected 17 European producers for its Emerging Producers 2025 programme.

In the Docu Talents from the East industry programme as part of Sarajevo’s CineLink, the jury chose Agne Dovydaityte and Alexander Belinski’s Baltic UXO for the $5,000 Docu Talent award.

Scroll down for the full list of Emerging Producers

The Lithuanian-German-Latvian co-production, which is in post-production ahead of a planned Q1 2025 festival launch, explores the legacy of the 1.6m tons of Second World War munitions that were dumped in the Baltic Sea.

“It looks very professional, featured beautiful cinematography, and seems to turn a hidden secret into a universal story,” said the jury.

Tomasz Wolski’s Polish title The Big Chief, about the life and controversies of Second World War spy Leopold Trepper, won the €3,000 in-kind distribution award.

The two projects were chosen from eight documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe, all of which are planned for theatrical release in the upcoming 12 months. Lesia Diak’s Dad’s Lullaby, winner of the Docu Talent award in 2022, had its world premiere in Sarajevo this weekend.

Emerging producers

Ji.hlava also selected 17 European producers for the 2025 edition of its Emerging Producers programme, which provides networking, educational and promotional support for a year.

Selected producers include Germany’s Michael Kalb, who has made documentaries including 2022 Filmfest Munich premiere Solastalgia; and the UK’s Luiza Paiva, who was assistant director on Karim Ainouz’s Cannes 2023 title Firebrand.

One Canadian producer, Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre, has been selected with Canada as the guest country of the 2025 programme. The selected producers will take part in two workshops – on in Jihlava in October 2024, and a second during the Berlinale in February 2025.