The first edition of Echoes of Ji.hlava IDFF in Cairo will showcase a curated selection of films from the festival’s 29th edition, which took place in October 2025 in Czechia. It will offer a distinctive insight into contemporary auteur documentary cinema.
Through intimate personal stories and socially engaged filmmaking, the programme explores themes of identity, care, displacement, and belonging across different contexts.
In cooperation with Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, Zawya Cinema, Czech Centres and the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Cairo. Supported by LAVARIS and Emco.
Tickets can be purchased at Zawya Cinema or on the cinema’s website.
Program
- 17 June 2026, 7:00 PM – Amira's Children + discussion with the director
- 18 June 2026, 7:00 PM – The Cats, the Sea, and Everything in Between
- 19 June 2026, 7:00 PM – What About Petey?
- 20 June 2026, 11:00 AM – Masterclass: Markéta Ekrt Válková
- 20 June 2026, 7:00 PM – Bürglkopf
Film synopses
Amira's Children – 17. 6. 2026, 7:00 PM
director: Markéta Ekrt Válková
original title: Amiřiny děti
language: Czech, Arabic
subtitles: English, Arabic
country: Czech Republic
year: 2025
running time: 84 min
The Alhariri family fleeing war finds an unexpected home in Czechia. Follow the family's 10-year journey of hope, struggle, and belonging in this powerful documentary.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with director Markéta Ekrt Válková.
Markéta Ekrt Válková (born 1973) studied at the Film School in Zlín and the Department of Documentary Film at FAMU. In addition to a number of documentaries and series for Czech Television, she also made the feature-length documentary Mára Goes to Heaven (2022) about mountaineer Marek Holeček.
The Cats, the Sea, and Everything in Between – 18. 6. 2026, 7:00 PM
director: Karel Malkoun
original title: The Cats, the Sea, and Everything in Between.
language: English, Arabic
subtitles: English
country: Lebanon, Canada
year: 2025
running time: 73 min.
warning: flashing lights (epilepsy warning)
Documentary filmmaker Karel Malkoun returns from Canada to crisis-stricken Lebanon in 2022. Her short family visit becomes a collage-like diary reflecting on home, distance and a country in prolonged decay.
What About Petey? – 19. 6. 2026, 7:00 PM
director: Martin Trabalík
original title: Co s Péťou?
country: Czech Republic
language: Czech
subtitles: English, Arabic
year: 2025
running time: 86 min.
warning: graphic violence
This intimate observational documentary, highlights the patience and dedication of people who have decided to devote their lives to caring for others. Peter is nearly eighteen, with the physique of an adult man, living with autism spectrum disorder that makes it difficult for him to express his feelings and needs. His father, sister and assistants try to create a safe, accepting environment despite aggression, and limited financial and institutional support.
Masterclass with Markéta-Ekrt Válková – 20.6.2026, 11:00
Birth of Reality in Documentary Films
What is reality in documentary film? How is it constructed through the relationship between subject matter, environment, and protagonists? What ethical questions arise in the process of representing reality? And where does the filmmaker's vision enter the picture?
In this masterclass, Czech documentary filmmaker Markéta Ekrt-Válková will explore these questions through her experience in documentary filmmaking. A graduate of the Film School in Zlín and the Department of Documentary Film at FAMU Prague, Markéta Ekrt-Válková has directed numerous documentaries and documentary series for Czech Television.
This masterclass is organized by the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, Czech Centres, Embassy of the Czech Republic in Egypt, and Zawya Cinema
The masterclass will be held in English.
Duration: 11:00-12:30
Free admission.
Bürglkopf – 20. 6. 2026, 7:00 PM
director: Lisa Polster
original title: Bürglkopf
country: Austria, Germany
language: German, English, Arabic, Farsi
subtitles: English
year: 2025
running time: 78 min.
The film contrasts the idyllic Tyrolean landscape around Bürglkopf mountain with the harsh reality of a refugee centre hidden at the mountain’s top. Although access to the facility is restricted, through interviews and testimonies from former residents and supportive locals, the film reveals how dignity and hope can persist within an inhumane bureaucratic system.
Echoes of Ji.hlava in Cairo Partners
Czech Centre Cairo
Embassy of the Czech Republic in Cairo
