Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival has revealed to Variety the projects that the participants of its 2026 Emerging Producers program are working on. The producers were asked to deliver an elevator pitch for their projects.
Since 2010, the festival has selected 18 up-and-coming documentary producers — 17 from Europe and one from outside the continent (Japan is the 2026 guest country) — offering them educational, networking and promotional opportunities.
The Emerging Producers portal has become a valuable resource for documentary filmmakers seeking co-producers, featuring over 250 profiles of alumni from the program.
Here are the pitches from the 2026 lineup:
Title: Glorious UtopiaProducers: Tomáš Gič, Katarína Krnáčová/Silverart (Slovakia)Director: Marek MoučkaGenre: DocumentarySynopsis: “Glorious Utopia” observes the citizens and kings of the unofficial microstate Elgeland-Vargaland. Through the story of two aging kings and their encounters with real social events, the film explores topics of identity, power, and the meaning of borders in current world.Pitch: Every utopia eventually meets reality. The fictional microstate Elgaland-Vargaland begins as an artistic game but evolves into a powerful lens on borders and identity. As global tensions continue to reshape our world, the story became strikingly timely, with the potential to resonate at international festivals as well as wider audiences.
