Nordic co-production Silver shines at Ji.hlava, with Teenage Life Interrupted and Mr. Nobody Against Putin also picking up awards

The International Documentary Film Festival Ji.hlava – held in the Czech Republic – has announced its winners, with Natalia Koniarz’s Silver shining especially brightly. Executive produced by award-winning director Paweł Pawlikowski, who produced Ida and Cold War (Zimna wojna), this is a co-production between Poland, Finland and Norway.

Silver, about the highest silver mine in Bolivia and the harsh life of those trying to respect its brutal rules, was named Best World Documentary Film in the Opus Bonum section.

“Some people in our winning film believe that their lives and deaths are governed by a ferocious demon-deity. But they’re at the mercy of evils that are of this world too,” the jury said. “Somehow, this enormously cinematic documentary makes gigantic issues like colonialism and economic disparity tangible, by telling its strange, sorrowful story – of a place as inhospitable as the surface of the moon – in images and soundscapes that even now remain scorched into our minds.”

The film was also named Best Documentary Film in the Visegrad Region and awarded for the cinematography of Stanisław Cuske for “stunning, risky camerawork that sparkles darkly like the soot that clings to the slick torsos of the miners working in this wildly hostile environment”.

Maciej Kubicki, producing for Telemark, opened up about minority coproduction support from Norway and Finland.

“This international collaboration was carried out already during the shoot, and focused on the post-production stage, with a special emphasis on dramaturgy input from the late Iikka Vehkalahti [of IV Films], a renowned Finish producer for whom it was one of the last documentaries he was involved in.”

Koniarz also stressed the importance of “creative assistance” from Vehkalahti. “His participation in the production process was very valuable to me,” she said.

While the sound was mixed at the Copenhagen-based Mainstream studio, the Norwegian composer and sound designer Yngve Leidulv Sætre and his team at Duper Post Punks in Bergen also had a “huge creative impact”, Kubicki noted – as well as colour grader Tom Chr. Lilletvedt. Sound and image post-production was overseen by Torstein Grude Ruwê Yuxinawá of Piraya Film.

“I became aware of the project through my friend and hero Iikka Vehkalahti, who asked if I could be interested in co-producing. The material was very strong, so I accepted immediately, and I have been very proud to help facilitate collaborations with Norwegian creatives,” he said.

“To complement the high artistic quality of the direction and editing, the film needed an impressive soundtrack.”

This wasn’t the only Nordic success at the fest, with the Audience Award going to harrowing Mr. Nobody Against Putin(Pan Nikdo proti Putinovi). Directed by Copenhagen-based David Borenstein and its protagonist Pavel Talankin, the film has already been selected as Denmark’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

During an emotional Q&A with the audience, Talankin – a small-town teacher who ended up filming his school’s troubling transformation following the Russian invasion of Ukraine – admitted that Russia is bound to respond to the Oscar campaign. He has already fled the country.

“There will be a second wave of hate. I already warned my mother, because it’s coming. I got a call from the kids I used to teach when Denmark decided to submit the film. They said: ‘Just imagine if the Best Actor award goes to our teacher’!”

Finally, Teenage Life Interrupted (Uten synlige tegn), directed by Åse Svenheim Drivenes (Norway), got Special Mention for Best Film at the Knowledge in Testimonies section.

For, as argued by the jury, “shedding light on the struggles, confusion and resilience of adolescence. The film serves as a heartfelt alarm and a lesson for parents and society: to listen, to learn, and to understand the unseen battles their children face in their journey to adulthood.”

Kari Anne Moe, who produced for Fuglene with Gudmundur Gunnarsson, commented: “I think that young people are a hard crowd to reach, but when they are exposed to great documentaries, their feedback is overwhelming.”

“They really need great stories about life,” she said. “The way to reach them is through schools. So, one thing we would need [in the Nordics] is a better financing system and a focus on making sure that screening such stories becomes a part of teenagers’ education.”

Overall, Ji.hlava has selected multiple Nordic docs, from Astrid Ardagh’s On Air (Ishavsringen) to Nathan Grossman’s Climate in Therapy or Monica Strømdahl’s Flophouse America. The Swedish co-production Child of Dust (Dziecko z pylu) was also shown, as well as multiple shorts, including Food (Jídlo) and Land’s End – from 1968 and 1991 respectively – Masha Vlasova’s Midsummer, and Marja Viitahuhta, Iikka Heinonen, Turkka Inkilä and Ánnámáret’s Vuoiŋŋat (Spirits). In Truth or Dare (Totuus vai tehtävä), Tonislav Hristov (based in Bulgaria and Finland) took on fake news destroying the election cycle in his home country. Previously, Hristov made The Last Seagull and The Magic Life of V.

“For many years I have admired, and sometimes even envied, the standards of Nordic documentaries, but the competition on financing and festivals is harsh,” said Kaarle Aho, who produced Truth or Dare for Helsinki-based Making Movies.

“We Finns, we have a slight handicap of having our basic domestic funding on a lower level than our bigger and more prosperous Nordic siblings. And we should always try to close the gap by being more innovative or original, which is easier said than done. The co-operation between the Nordic producers is very tight, fruitful, and day-to-day. I truly wish that pre-sales for Nordic TV broadcasters were as easy to reach.”

Mr. Nobody Against Putin and Teenage Life Interrupted are supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.