BRNO/PRAGUE/Czech Republic – Fans of films about the environment will be able to watch most of the competition films of the 46th edition of the EKOFILM festival online. They will find them from December 4th to December 7th on the website www.ekofilm.cz thanks to the support of the internet TV service MALL.TV. After intensive negotiations, the organizers of EKOFILM have been able to secure all necessary licenses for the majority of the competition films. The film festival will thus take place, although the state of emergency that was prolonged until December 12th suspended all public film screenings. The already postponed film screenings should have happened this Friday and Saturday, November 27th and 28th, in Brno, but cinemas have to remain closed.

On November 26, Industry @ Tallinn & Baltic Event rewarded the best projects after an exciting week full of online presentations, networking, panel discussions and meetings attracting more than 850 guests from all around the globe. 

Ten Awards were given out to projects in different stages of scriptwriting, development or post-production, two Awards went to promising producers 

Czech branch of HBO Europe grants again a financial award at MIDPOINT TV Launch 2020, held  online within the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event of the Tallinn Black Nights FF.  

After six months of training, the TV Launch program peaked with the Season Finale pitching  presentation held on Thursday, November 26, 2020. Nine series projects in development coming  from Croatia, Greece, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Serbia and Ukraine were presented  online to a pool of industry professionals. 

As the Federal Government and the German States extended the measures aimed at combating the coronavirus pandemic on November 25th, 2020 and cinemas will also remain closed, therefore, the film screenings of the 30th FilmFestival Cottbus planned between the December 8th to 13th, 2020 in the cinemas cannot take place. Nevertheless, from December 8th to 31st, 2020, 150 films will be available as a nationwide streaming offer on the festival website.

The competition section of goEast - Festival of Central and Eastern European Film,  

consisting of 16 was supposed to take place from May 5-10 2020, was postponed to  November due to Corona. Thanks to the commitment of the festival team and the support  of sponsors and funders, the 20th edition of goEast was able to take place beyond the  actual festival period. The presentation of opening film SERVANTS / SLUŽOBNÍCI (Director:  Ivan Ostrochovský) was also postponed to November. As a sign of solidarity, the 33rd  exground filmfest had adopted the section in its entirety. However, due to continuing travel  restrictions and event bans, the films could only be shown online, accompanied by pre recorded film talks with the filmmakers. The audience was able to vote online for their  favourite film. 

Antoneta Kastrati won the goEast Audience Award with her film ZANA (Kosovo, Albania  2019). In this personal film, the filmmaker links traumas of the Kosovo war to the intimate  story of her protagonist. In a visually convincing way, Antoneta Kastrati succeeds in making  a film about the impact of history on contemporary Kosovo as well as the story of her protagonist's emancipation, an Impressive role by Adriana Matoshi.  

Axel Imholz, head of the cultural department of the state capital of Wiesbaden, accepted  the prize on behalf of the city and expressed his thanks to the teams of both festivals: "It is  wonderful to see that the amazing festivals in our city do not see each other as competitors but as partners in the effort to create a great and special cinema culture in Wiesbaden. I  would like to thank everyone involved for this team spirit".  

The trophy, the Silver Lily, was designed by artist Joachim Harbut. The goEast Audience  Award, which is being presented for the first time, is endowed with a cash prize of 1,500  euros. 

Head of Festival Heleen Gerritsen is delighted about the opportunity to award the prize in  this special anniversary year: "In May we divided all goEast prizes between the competition  participants in a spirit of solidarity - the main prizes were thus only awarded symbolically.  An exception was the audience award, which was financed through crowdfunding. I had  very much hoped to be able to present the prize in person at exground, but this year, with  no cinema, no parties and no guests, we are nevertheless happy about any support we can  give to filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe, some of whom are having to fight the  pandemic harder than we here". 

The Audience Award was made possible through a successful crowdfunding campaign,  which was awarded by "kulturMut", the joint crowdfunding platform of the Aventis  

Foundation and Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain. 

Should it be possible by then, exground filmfest plans to present their programme in  Wiesbaden's cinemas between 11 and 20 December 2020, including the goEast competition. 

The main jury awards were already awarded online during the goEast festival week in May,  with the prize money being divided equally among the filmmakers in the competing sections. 

The 21st edition of goEast - Festival of Central and Eastern European Film will take place  from 20 to 26 April 2021. 

An overview of prize-winners of the 20st goEast - Festival of Central and Eastern  European Film: 

Golden Lily for Best Film 

ROUNDS / V KRAG, Bulgaria, Serbia,France, 2019, directed by Stephan Komandarev 

Award of the City of Wiesbaden for Best Director 

NOVA LITUANIA, Lithuania, 2019, directed by Karolis Kaupinis 

Award of the Federal Foreign Office for Cultural Diversity 

IMMORTAL / SUREMATU, Estonia, Lithuania, 2019, directed by Ksenia Okhapkina

Honourable Mention 

IVANA THE TERRIBLE / IVANA CEA GROAZNICĂ, Romania, Serbia 2019, directed by  Ivana Mladenović 

International Film Critic's Award – FIPRESCI (fiction feature) 

ROUNDS / V KRAG, Bulgaria, Serbia, France 2019, directed by Stephan Komandarev 

International Film Critic's Award – FIPRESCI (documentary film) 

STATE FUNERAL / PROSHANIE SO STALINYM, Netherlands, Lithuania, 2019, directed by  Sergei Loznitsa 

Open Frame Award 

WHISPERS, Poland, 2019, directed by Jacek Nagłowski, Patryk Jordanowicz 

Open Frame Award – Honourable Mention 

BABYN JAR, VIRTUAL MEMORY, Ukraine, 2020, directed by Alona Stulii 

RheinMain Short Film Award 

IN BETWEEN / NË MES, Kosovo, 2019, directed by Samir Karahoda 

RheinMain Short Film Award – Honourable Mention 

VIRAGO, Estonia, 2019, directed by Kerli Kirch Schneider 

Renovabis Research Grant for documentary film projects with a human rights focus 

HOME IS WHERE THE FILMS ARE, Kosovo, directed by More Raça 

goEast Development Award 

SHUT THE FUCK UP!, Ukraine, directed by Taisiia Kutuzova  

You can find photo materials in our download section: 

www.filmfestival-goeast.de/de/presse/downloads.php

goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film is hosted by DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut &  Filmmuseum and made possible with the support of numerous partners. Primary funding partners are  the State Capital Wiesbaden, the Hessen State Ministry for Higher Education, Research and the Arts,  Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, Renovabis, BHF BANK Foundation, Adolf und Luisa Haeuser-Stiftung  für Kunst und Kulturpflege, the German Federal Foreign Ministry, the Federal Foundation for the Study  of Communist Dictatorship in East Germany and Deutsch-Tschechische Zukunftsfonds. Media partners  include 3sat, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The „personal story about the role of projection in love” was awarded Chicago IFF New Directors Competition’s Golden Hugo, Philadelphia FF’s Best Narrative Feature, Valladolid IFF’s Golden Spike and a FIPRESCI Prize at Warsaw IFF among others.

Int’l sales are handled by NFI World Sales.

“Slippery, supple and sinuous” – Variety’s Jessica Kiang

“I was taken by its mystery” – The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis

“The outta-left-field pleasant surprise of Toronto IFF” – Rolling Stone’s David Fear

“haunting and mysterious” – IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio

At the meeting of the Hungarian Oscar Selection Committee held on the 23rd November, it was announced that Hungary will enter Lili Horvát’s PREPARATIONS TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN UNKNOWN PERIOD OF TIME, which explores the role of projections in love and about the fine line between romance and madness, to be considered for nomination in the “Academy Awards - Best International Film” category.

Following its world premiere at Venice Days, PREPARATIONS TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN UNKNOWN PERIOD OF TIME produced by Dóra Csernátony, Lili Horvát, Péter Miskolczi for Poste Restante, was premiered in North America as one of the few titles selected at this year’s special edition of the Toronto IFF.

The Hungarian Oscar Committee included Csaba Káel Government Commissioner for the Development of the Hungarian Motion Picture Industry and Chairman of the National Film Institute, Csaba Bereczki film director, Tibor Fonyódi screenwriter, András Kálmán film distribution expert, Ákos Pesti producer and Emil Novák cinematographer.

PREPARATIONS TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN UNKNOWN PERIOD OF TIME

SYNOPSIS

Márta, a 40-year-old neurosurgeon, falls in love. She leaves her shining American career behind and returns to Budapest to start a new life with the man she loves. But she waits for him at the Liberty Bridge in vain - he does not appear at their rendezvous. Márta starts to search for him desperately, but when she finally finds him, the love of her life claims that they have never met before.

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/vIHr3E7ojkw

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

“To me, Preparations... is primarily a personal story about the role of projection in love. Our film plays out in the unsettlingly murky no-man's-land that separates love from madness. To what extent do we construct love stories within ourselves? How far does our desired reality go, and where does it meet actual reality? How differently can two people experience the same love? Preparations... shows the inner journey of a strong, determined and yet fragile woman: a neurosurgeon who has achieved everything in her career, yet something fundamental is deeply missing from her life.” - Lili Horvát writer-director.

Lili Horvát (Budapest, 1982) studied audiovisual arts at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris and film directing at the University of Theatre and Film in Budapest. The Wednesday Child, Horvát's first feature won the East of West Award at Karlovy Vary 2015, and received numerous awards worldwide. In 2016, Horvát co-founded the production company Poste Restante, which produced her second feature, Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time with the support of the National Film Institute – Hungary.

Festival Awards: https://nfi.hu/en/film/preparations-to-be-together-for-an-unknown-period-of-time

First Reviews : https://nfi.hu/en/news/lili-horvats-second-feature-on-show-at-toronto-iff

Interview with Lili Horvát : https://youtu.be/ZGbY8LqJjdc

Sales : NFI World Sales

Festivals : National Film Institute – Hungary

MIDPOINT Cold Open targets independent producers, with a background in feature film producing, aspiring to shift to high-end series content.

Offering practical knowledge connected to the developing, producing and financing of drama series content in Europe, the program will familiarize its participants with the current landscape, industry preferences and will compare the narrative and concept structures of feature films and scripted series as well as supply hands-on skills of financing and distributing of drama content.