JAFEST 2024 Film Festival

“Chroniclers of Truth, Bearers of Witness”

Submissions are now open for the competitive film section of the Chroniclers of Truth, Bearers of Witness Festival in Kaunas, Lithuania, and Lisbon, Portugal in September 2024.

This Festival – the second edition of JAFEST, organized by Já International Theatre from Portugal and ALTR in Kaunas, in association with the Kaunas Cultural Center, Vytautas Magnus University, and Cossoul, and supported by the Theatre in Palm Project – will celebrate the courage, resolve, and moral intelligence of those who chronicle the truth in troubling times.

INTRODUCTION

History and the writing of it is shaped by those who have their hands on the levers of power. This involves both creating narratives and erasing uncomfortable ones.
Historical narratives that define acceptable truths can grip the mind of entire societies and shape the destiny of whole civilisations. But history is as much an act of forgetting as remembering. Look closely at the murky pathways of history and you will find buried truths, discordant narratives, unsung tales, untold stories, and hidden voices.
Europe in the twentieth century is an example of this… whether we focus on the countries behind the Iron Curtain during the Soviet regime or the fascist dictatorships in Portugal and Spain. It takes courage, and sustained effort, to free oneself from oppressive histories. In 2024, as democratic guardrails once again slip away, freedoms retreat and powerful exclusionary narratives take hold, it is important to acknowledge those journalists, activists, and artists who stand up for universal human rights and democratic values, those who – despite the risks to life and limb – record unpalatable truths, and bear witness.

This competitive festival invites submissions of films of up to 25 minutes that explore, document, or react to this theme.

The entries can be in the form of documentaries, fictional dramas, poetry films, short narrative docudramas, or any other cross-genre offering. Above all, this competition is an invitation to visual artists and filmmakers to engage with stories that matter and rescue them from invisibility. We especially welcome bold visual interpretations of the competition theme.

We invite open submissions from artists. Submissions from emerging artists and first-time videographers are particularly welcome.

Competitive submissions will be accepted in one of three categories based on screening time (including title and end credits):

Category I: Screening time of up to 7 minutes.
Category II: Screening time of up to 15 minutes.
Category III: Screening time of up to 25 minutes

Selected films will be screened during the festival in September 2024 at the VDU Theatre, Kaunas and Cossoul, Lisbon.

A jury of experts with broad experience in visual media will go through the selected entries to pick out two best films in each category.