GoEast, styled goEast, is an international

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

which has been held annually in the Hessian state capital of

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

, Germany, since its inception in 2001. The festival is primarily for films with an

Eastern European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountains, and ...

background, and is held by the

Deutsches Filminstitut The Deutsches Filminstitut – DIF ("German Film Institute") is an institute for the study of film, based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. History The Deutsches Filminstitut was founded on 13 April 1949 as the Deutsches Institut für Filmkunde (DIF ...

(German Film Institute) for one week every April.

History

The goEast film festival, launched in 2001, was founded by Claudia Dillmann, the Director of the German Film Institute – DIF. Likewise involved in developing the original festival concept was Swetlana Sikora, who has remained the festival's Artist Director until 2010. "The time has come to open ourselves to the thoughts, images, myths and stories of our Eastern neighbours. To their culture. To their films.", wrote Claudia Dillmann in her foreword to the first festival catalogue. From the beginning, the state capital

and the state government of

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

has given substantial support to the festival, as it made its home in the Caligari cinemas. Hilmar Hoffmann became patron of the festival. In late summer 2010 Gaby Babic took over the post of Festival Director, and for the first time a combined role as Artistic Director as well. After Claudia Dillmann, Christine Kopf and Nadja Rademacher she is the fourth front woman of goEast. The 2021 festival took place in April, mainly online, as well as in the cities of

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

and

Giessen Giessen, spelled in German (), is a town in the Germany, German States of Germany, state () of Hesse, capital of both the Giessen (district), district of Giessen and the Giessen (region), administrative region of Giessen. The population is appro ...

.2021 programme
/ref> Directors and stars who have been guests at the festival includes Krzysztof Zanussi,

Jiří Menzel Jiří Menzel () (23 February 1938 – 5 September 2020) was a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography. Some of these films ...

István Szabó István Szabó (; born 18 February 1938) is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and opera director. Szabó is one of the most notable Hungary, Hungarian filmmakers and one who has been best known outside the Hungarian language, Hungarian- ...

, Hanna Schygulla,

Béla Tarr Béla Tarr (born 21 July 1955) is a Hungarian filmmaker. Debuting with the film '' Family Nest'' (1979), Tarr began his directorial career with a brief period of what he refers to as "social cinema", aimed at telling everyday stories about ordi ...

Jerzy Stuhr Jerzy Oskar Stuhr (; 18 April 1947 – 9 July 2024) was a Polish film actor, film and theatre actor. Considered one of the most popular, influential and versatile Polish actors and an icon of Polish cinema, he also worked as a screenplay, screen ...

, Kira Muratova, Otar Iosseliani, Maria Schrader, Joachim Król,

Sergei Loznitsa Sergei Vladimirovich Loznitsa (born 5 September 1964) or Serhii Volodymyrovych Loznytsia, is a Ukrainian director of Belarusian origin known for his documentary as well as dramatic films. Biography Loznitsa was born on 5 September 1964 in the ...

, Bohdan Sláma, Cristi Puiu and many more.

Sections

Competition

Ten feature films and six documentaries are nominated for the goEast Competition. Eligibility is restricted to productions completed within the past two years in the applicable countries; in addition, since 2008 documentaries made in Germany or Israel may be nominated if they possess clear thematic relevance to Central and Eastern Europe.

Symposium

The annual goeast symposiUm invites (film) scholars, historians and specialists to examine socially relevant topics within the context of historical artistic developments. This section is built around interdisciplinary debate encompassing a range of aesthetic and theoretical perspectives, and is accompanied by a separately curated series of films. All lectures, discussions and screenings are open to the general public.

Young Professionals Programme

The goeast Students' Competition presents work by young filmmakers from East and West. The BHF-BANK Foundation finances three audience prizes worth 1,000 EUR respectively as well as an adjudicated supporting prize (1,500 EUR) for the best short film from an Eastern European film school. Since 2007, goEast has hosted the presentation of the Co-Production award of the Robert Bosch Stiftung, which offers support to three projects involving the cooperation of young filmmakers from Eastern and Southeastern Europe as well as from Germany. Awarded in cooperation with

ARTE Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

, a grant of up to 70,000 EUR goes to one outstanding project proposal in each of the three categories Documentary, Animation, and Short Film. With a week-long programme geared towards exchange of experience and provision of support for joint proposals, the annual Project Market fosters networking among young filmmakers from

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

and Germany. The workshops and discussions held during the goeast Young Professionals programme allow upcoming filmmakers to profit from the experience of renowned

commissioning editor In book publishing, a commissioning editor is essentially a buyer. It is the job of the commissioning editor to advise the publishing house on which books to publish. Usually the actual decision of whether to contract a book is taken by a senior m ...

s, producers and directors.

Homage/Portrait

Dedicated to Otar Iosseliani, Kira Muratova or

Sergei Parajanov Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov (January 9, 1924 – July 20, 1990) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He is regarded by film critics, film historians and filmmakers to be one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Parajanov was born to ...

one year, to

Jan Svěrák Jan Svěrák (; born 6 February 1965) is a Czechs, Czech film director and screenwriter. He is the son of screenwriter and actor Zdeněk Svěrák, with whom he collaborated on his most successful films. He is among the most recognized Czech filmm ...

Benedek Fliegauf Benedek "Bence" Fliegauf (born 15 August 1974 in Budapest) is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. Life and career Originally Fliegauf planned to become a writer. However, he had to abandon his plans due to a lack of finances. Instead, Fl ...

or Fatmir Koci the next – this alternating festival slot pays tribute to the achievements of established masters or highlights the inspiring careers of contemporary filmmakers or actors.

Beyond Belonging

Beyond Belonging is open to productions from countries outside Central and Eastern Europe but bearing a clear relation to the region.

Highlights

This section presents hand-picked highlights of Central and Eastern European mainstream cinema.

Specials

Special events include film archives, school film days, concerts and closing parties.

Awards

An international jury chooses the recipients of the Škoda Prize (10,000 EUR) – the “Golden Lily” – for Best Film, the "Remembrance and Future" documentary prize (10,000 EUR), the prize for Best Director (7,500 EUR) from the City of Wiesbaden, and the prize (2,000 EUR) from the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. A jury dispatched by

FIPRESCI The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the wor ...

awards the International Film Critics' Prize.

Award Winners

ŠKODA Film Award (prize name changed in 2013)

* 2013 - ''In Bloom'' By Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß

The ŠKODA Award "The Golden Lily" for Best Film

* 2012 - ''

Living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * ...

'' By Vassily Sigarev * 2011 - '' A Stoker'' By

Alexei Balabanov Aleksei Oktyabrinovich Balabanov (; 25 February 1959 – 18 May 2013) was a Russian film director, screenwriter, and Film producer, producer, a member of European Film Academy. He started from creating mostly arthouse pictures and music videos ...

* 2010 - '' Street Days'' By Levan Koguashvili * 2009 - '' The Other Bank'' By George Ovashvili * 2008 - ''

Magnus Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

'' By Kadri Kõusaar * 2007 - ''

Euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...

'' By

Ivan Vyrypaev Ivan Aleksandrovich Vyrypaev (; ; born August 3, 1974) is a Polish playwright of Russian descent, screenwriter, film director, actor and art director. He is a leading figure in the New Drama movement. Founder and general producer of the private P ...

* 2006 - '' Tbilisi-tbilisi'' By Levan Zakarejšvili * 2005 - '' The Tuner'' By Kira Muratova * 2004 - '' Roads to Koktebel'' By Boris Khlebnikov and Aleksei Popogrebski * 2003 - ''The Key to Determining Dwarfs, Or The Last Travel of Lemuel Gulliver'' By Martin Šulík * 2002 - '' Hi, Tereska'' By Robert Gliński * 2001 - '' The Big Animal'' By

and '' Second Class-people'' By Kira Muratova

Award For Best Director Donated By The City Of Wiesbaden

* 2013 - ''

Circles A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is called the radius. The length of a line segment connecting t ...

'' By Srdan Golubović * 2012 - '' AVÉ'' By Konstantin Bojanov * 2011 - '' Morgen'' By Marian Crişan * 2010 - '' Days of Desire'' By József Pacskovszky * 2009 - '' Help Gone Mad'' By Boris Khlebnikov * 2008 - '' Love and Other Crimes'' By

Stefan Arsenijević Stefan Arsenijević ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Арсенијевић; born 11 March 1977 in Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian film director and scriptwriter. Biography He is a graduate of the Ninth Belgrade Gymnasium. He studied ...

* 2007 - '' The Trap'' By Srdan Golubović * 2006 - '' Garpastum'' By Aleksei German Jr. * 2005 - ''

Stranger A stranger is a person who is unknown or unfamiliar to another person or group. Because of this unknown status or unfamiliarity, a stranger may be perceived as a threat until their identity and character can be ascertained. Different classes of ...

'' By

Małgorzata Szumowska Małgorzata Szumowska (; born 26 February 1973) is a Polish people, Polish film director, screenwriter and producer, born in Kraków. Her 2013 film ''In the Name Of (film), In the Name Of'' received the Teddy Award for Best Feature at the 63rd B ...

* 2004 - ''

Dealer Dealer may refer to: Film and TV * ''Dealers'' (film), a 1989 British film * ''Dealers'' (TV series), a reality television series where five art and antique dealers bid on items * ''The Dealer'' (film), filmed in 2008 and released in 2010 * ...

'' By

* 2003 - '' Ballroom Dancing'' By Lívia Gyarmathy * 2002 - ''The Last Supper'' By Vojka Anzeljc * 2001 - ''Passport'' By

Péter Gothár Péter Gothár (born 28 August 1947) is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. He has directed 23 films since 1974. His film '' The Outpost'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Fe ...

Documentary Award – “remembrance And Future” Of The Foundation Evz (since 2008)

* 2013 - Anton's right here By Lyubov Arkus * 2012 - '' Revision'' By Philip Scheffner * 2011 - '' The Last Day Of Summer'' By Piotr Stasik * 2010 - '' OJ Mama'' Von orna Ben Dor By Noa Maiman * 2009 - '' I Love Poland'' By joanna Sławińska And Maria Zmarz-koczanowicz * 2008 - '' The Flower Bridge'' By Thomas Ciulei

Documentary Award By The Hertie Foundation (until 2007)

* 2007 - '' How to Do It'' by Marcel Łoziński * 2006 - '' Facing the Day'' by Ivona Juka * 2005 - '' Pretty Dyana'' by Boris Mitić * 2004 - '' Alphabet of Hope'' by Stephan Komandarev * 2003 - '' Bread Over the Fence'' by Stephan Komandarev * 2002 - '' Joy of Life'' by

Svetozar Ristovski Svetozar Ristovski (born January 26, 1972) is a Macedonian film director who now resides in Canada. His first film was the 2000 short ''Hunter'' about the psychological study of a wartime sniper. He marked his English language debut with 2010's ...

Award Of The Federal Foreign Office For “artistic Originality Which Creates Cultural Diversity”

* 2013 - Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari By Aleksey Fedorchenko * 2012 - '' Mother’s Paradise'' By Aktan Arym Kubat * 2011 - '' Gorelovka'' By Alexander Kviria * 2010 - '' How I Ended This Summer'' By

Alexei Popogrebski Alexei Petrovich Popogrebsky (; born 7 August 1972) is a Russian film director and screenwriter. His 2010 film '' How I Ended This Summer'' was nominated for the Golden Bear The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film ...

* 2009 - '' Morphia'' By

* 2008 - '' At The River'' By Eva Nejman * 2007 - ''

Armin Armin is a male given name and surname of Indo-European languages, Indo-European origin. In the Balkans, Armin is popular among Bosniaks in the former Yugoslavia, Yugoslav nations. The name is a modification of Amin (name), Amin, following a pat ...

'' By

Ognjen Sviličić Ognjen Sviličić (born 1971 in Split, Yugoslavia, Split) is a screenwriter and film director, based in Berlin, noted for his critically acclaimed 2007 films Sorry for Kung Fu, ''Sorry For Kung Fu'', ''Armin (film), Armin and These Are the Rules ...

* 2006 - '' Death Rode Out Of Persia'' By Putyi Horváth

References

External links

* {{Film festivals Film festivals in Germany Culture in Wiesbaden Mass media in Wiesbaden