As the director of a film festival focussing on Eastern Europe, goEast head Heleen Gerritsen cannot refrain from commenting on the current situation at the Russian-Ukrainian border:

"This morning, on 24 February 2022, Vladimir Putin ordered a large-scale attack at Ukraine; targeting cities throughout the whole country. The news leaves us speechless and angry. As a festival dedicated not only to the freedom of arts but also to exchange and dialogue, goEast has shown films from both Ukraine and Russia since its beginnings. It is my deep hope that there will be a de-escalation in the situation soon, and we will see a withdrawal of Russian troops. Our solidarity here, from the entire goEast team, goes out to the people in Ukraine.”

Now, goEast would like to share the following items on its upcoming festival edition:

goEast Homage to Lana Gogoberidze

Women's life stories are her speciality. 93-year-old Lana Gogoberidze made 13 films over the course of six decades and was one of the few female directors in the USSR who didn't reject the Western label of feminism. Lana Gogoberidze, daughter of cinema pioneer Nutsa Gogoberidze and mother of filmmaker Salomé Alexi, is the most significant female filmmaker to emerge from Georgia, and one of the most important of her generation the world over – responsible for international-award-winning works of Soviet cinema from the 1960s on, such as SOME INTERVIEWS ON PERSONAL MATTERS (Ramdenime interviu pirad sakitkhebze, USSR, 1978), DAY IS LONGER THAN NIGHT (Dges game utenebia, USSR, 1983) or WALTZ ON THE PETSCHORA (Valsi pechoraze, Georgia, 1992).

In honour of Lana Gogoberidze, goEast, in co-operation with Frankfurt's Kinothek Asta Nielsen and the Georgian National Film Center, is presenting a retrospective of her work, the first of its kind world-wide. The multifaceted programme, encompassing ten films, features political, feminist and highly autobiographical works, in which, among other things, Gogoberidze grapples with her own family history and the mark left on it by Stalinist terror. goEast looks forward to welcoming Lana Gogoberidze personally to the festival in April, along with her daughter Salomé Alexi, and speaking with her about her work in the scope of an extended Q&A.

Focus on Non-Fiction in the East-West Talent Lab

In 2022, goEast's educational programme for emerging talents is aimed at filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as from Germany, seeking an opportunity to further develop their current documentary film projects and extend their peer-to-peer networks. The East-West Talent Lab, co-ordinated by Andrea Wink, supports a total of 30 up-and-coming talents through an intensive workshop programme and one-on-one mentoring for 15 projects, before concluding with a public pitching session in front of a three-member expert jury.

Several prizes are awarded in the scope of the East-West Talent Lab:

• the Renovabis Research Grant, endowed with 3,500 euros in prize money, for a documentary film project with a thematic focus on human rights issues;
• The Current Time Award, endowed with 1,500 euros;
• the Pitch-the-Doc Award, featuring an educational prize package valued at 500 euros.

The festival organisers are delighted to welcome new sponsors for the East-West Talent Lab onboard this year: joining Renovabis, which has been supporting goEast's talent development efforts since 2018, are the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Current Time TV.

Aside from the public pitching session, a further highlight of this year's East-West Talent Lab is a masterclass with Polish director Paweł Łoziński (FATHER AND SON, 2013; YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU, 2016; THE BALCONY MOVIE, 2021), who will speak to the young filmmakers about his work as a documentary film director. The masterclass is also open to the general public.

Merck Supports New Work-in-Progress Programme for Virtual & Extended Reality 

 

goEast has featured a bespoke competition for virtual reality works since 2018, which has, however, up until now solely shown completed VR projects in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. Now the festival is set to take on a new challenge – with a programme and accompanying competition exclusively intended for work-in-progress and collaborative projects in the fields of virtual and extended reality:

"The Work-in-Progress Competition is a brilliant opportunity to present Central and Eastern European works to a wider global audience, to honour the most deserving among them and to guarantee a high degree of exposure for the rest of the projects." - Georgy Molodtsov, VR curator at goEast

The declared goal here is to promote new talents from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as students from Germany, who are united by a common passion for VR and XR. Within the programme, the selected participants will receive assistance in their search for further opportunities to fund their projects.

This programme is made possible for goEast thanks to the support of the Darmstadt-based company Merck as a new sponsor, which is endowing the Merck Innovation Award for XR for the first time this year, to be presented by an independent jury. As a leading science and technology enterprise, Merck itself employs VR and XR technology in diverse sectors, and thus wishes to encourage goEast's efforts in the field in the scope of a cultural sponsorship.

"With the new programme and the associated Merck Innovation Award for XR, we would like to support young filmmakers in exploring and developing the potential of these technologies, as we believe that especially in the cultural sphere these new forms of experiencing reality are capable of generating lasting and sustained experiences for the audience," explains Dirk Sulzmann, director of community relations at Merck and responsible for the company's sponsoring activities.

In addition to the work-in-progress programme, in co-operation with teams from Central and Eastern Europe as well as Darmstadt's University of Applied Sciences, the festival will create an interactive goEast environment. In the scope of exhibitions in Darmstadt and Wiesbaden, visitors will be able to experience this creation, alongside a selection of work-in-progress projects.

goEast Trailer 2022: THE RULES OF THE GAME by Radu Jude

Romanian director Radu Jude, Berlinale multi-award-winner (AFERIM!, 2015; BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN, 2021), has created the trailer for this year's goEast Film Festival. The nearly one-minute film shows representatives of the Hohenzollern noble family during a hunting trip in Romania, drawn from archival reels from 1935, set to the cheerful tones of waltz music. The whole thing alludes to the hunting scene from Jean Renoir's LA RÈGLE DU JEU (1939). In this piece of found footage, East and West come together symbolically. The trailer can be seen in cinemas in Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, Mainz, Darmstadt and Gießen beginning in March, as well as online on goEast’s various channels from 25 February.

Accreditation

Members of the press can now register here for an accreditation for goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film. During the festival week, accredited industry guests and members of the press receive access to an online media library featuring productions from the festival programme.

You can find images related to the festival in the download section.

The full programme for the 22^nd edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film will be announced in late March.

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 HessenFilm und Medien GmbH, the State Capital Wiesbaden, Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Renovabis, Merck, CEEOL and Deutsch-Tschechische Zukunftsfonds. Media partners include 3sat, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

For the 22nd time, goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film is bringing works by Central and Eastern European directors to Wiesbaden and the Rhine-Main region. It is with great concern that the organizers of goEast follow the most recent geopolitical developments concerning Russia and Ukraine. The thoughts of the festival team are with the many partners, festival friends and filmmakers from both countries, whom it hopes to finally welcome back in Wiesbaden in the upcoming edition. After the past two editions were forced to largely take place online, goEast is hoping for many well-attended cinema screenings this year. From 19 to 25 April 2022, the festival, hosted by DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, invites attendees in Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Gießen and Mainz to get to know Central and Eastern European cinema through film screenings, film talks and encounters with filmmakers. In addition, this year's festival will again feature a range of online programming.

Which way to the East? - Godard, Cinema and Ideology in Central and Eastern Europe. The goEast Symposium

In the Symposium, goEast examines topics, regions and currents in Central and Eastern European cinema. In 2022, the event is devoted to a special relationship: the French-Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard has grappled with the East to an extraordinary degree, perhaps more than any other Western director, in all senses – thematically and formally as well as on ideological and political levels. The 91-year-old veteran auteur revolutionised French cinema in the 1960s, as one of the towering figureheads of the “Nouvelle Vague” movement. With films such as PRAVDA (FR, DE, 1970) and LES ENFANTS JOUENT À LA RUSSIE / THE KIDS PLAY RUSSIAN (FR, CH, 1993), the connection to Eastern Europe is already apparent in the titles, but there are also plenty of other references to be found among his other works, for example, to Russian literature and Soviet filmmakers.

The 2022 Symposium will be curated by film scholars Vinzenz Hediger and Daniel Fairfax of Frankfurt's Goethe University. The two will be inviting further experts to the event to shed light on Godard's mutual relationship with the East in the scope of lectures and discussions. The selection of films from Godard's oeuvre spans a productive period of 43 years, from 1967 to 2010, and encompasses short and feature-length films, both documentary and fictional works. Moreover, the programme also features a selection of Central and Eastern European films chosen by the director himself, works that influenced him personally.

Beloved classics like LA CHINOISE (FR, 1967), LE VENT D’EST / WIND FROM THE EAST (IT, FR, DE, 1969) or FILM SOCIALISME (FR, CH, 2010) are featured alongside rarely screened works such as JE VOUS SALUE, SARAJEVO (CH, 1993). A further highlight is the film ALLEMAGNE ANNÉE 90 NEUF ZÉRO / GERMANY YEAR 90 NINE ZERO (FR, 1991), featuring famous portrayer of secret agents Eddie Constantine, who spent his twilight years in Wiesbaden. 

30 Years of “Post-Soviet” Cinema– Special Programme

30 years after the official dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991 the European Film Academy (EFA) invited goEast festival director Heleen Gerritsen to compile a list of 30 trailblazing “post-Soviet” films from the past three decades together with film experts from Central and Eastern Europe. This nearly impossible task resulted in a collection of familiar and lesser-known productions that invite the audience to rediscover Central and Eastern Europe on film. goEast will be showing six rarely screened films from the list this April:

• ORANZHEVYE ZHILETY / ORANGE VESTS (BY, 1991) by Yury Khashevatsky,
• AKUMULÁTOR 1 / ACCUMULATOR 1 (CZ, 1994) by Jan Svěrák,
• TITO PO DRUGI PUT MEĐU SRBIMA / TITO AMONG THE SERBS FOR THE SECOND TIME (FR, YU, 1994) by Želimir Žilnik,
• CHICO (HU, DE, HR, CHL, 2001) by Ibolya Fekete,
• A FOST SAU N-A FOST? / 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST (RO, 2006) by Corneliu Porumboiu and
• PAPUSZA (PL, 2013) by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze.

New Co-operation: CEEOL Award for the Best Documentary Film

In 2021, goEast began to make the catalogues and Symposium essays from past festival editions available for free online. The CEEOL GmbH, the operator of the Central and Eastern European Online Library, based in Frankfurt, has been supporting the festival in these efforts.CEEOL provides both institutional and individual access to periodicals, eBooks and grey literature in the area of the social sciences and humanities from Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, making the data bank a trusted partner for years for academics, students and teachers specialising in Eastern European subject matter. The goEast catalogue texts from the festival years 2001-2021 have now been incorporated here and can be read in their entirety at www.ceeol.com.Another particularly delightful announcement in this regard: from 2022 on, the CEEOL will be presenting a new award in the goEast Competition, the CEEOL Award for the Best Documentary Film, which the organisation has also endowed with 4,000 euros in prize money. As such, the festival once again features a trophy exclusively intended for documentary works in the scope of the Main Competition section.

TETA has opened applications for the 8th edition of Pustnik Screenwriters Residency, which has been scheduled for mid-September 2022. Pustnik was established as the first Romania-based residency for feature film development and is dedicated to emerging filmmakers from all over the world.

After an online edition in 2020 and returning to in-person attendance in 2021, Pustnik takes place in a remote location in rural Romania, a propitious environment for writing. For the last seven years the residency was hosted by Cultural Port Cetate, on the banks of the Danube. The program could be subjected to various modifications due to the epidemic situation. The organisers will comply with the measures imposed by the competent authorities and will announce the conditions for a safe residency timely enough.

Eight first feature-length projects – two from Romania and six international – will be developed during the retreat. Besides dedicated writing time, Pustnik also offers participants the opportunity to meet residency alumni who have already produced or launched their debut films as well as established screenwriters who will provide feedback on their projects.

Applicants are required to have previously written at least one short film (fiction only) which has screened at a notable international film festival. Projects can be written in any language but fluency in English is mandatory for all residency activities.

Residents and guests take part in common working sessions and screenings of their own work. We encourage them to offer each other feedback and nurture a generous spirit of support.

Applications are open at www.pustnik.com until the 6th of March. As a non-profit organisation run by screenwriters for screenwriters, there are no application or participation fees (except international travel).

The residents will be selected by the co-founders of Pustnik, Andreea Borțun (writer/director, Romania) and Bryn Chainey (writer/director, UK/Australia) and will be announced in May.

The third day of the Malta Film Week, included three panel discussions at the Egmont Hall, Fort St Angelo, Vittoriosa, Malta. Panel discussions were mainly attributed with training, education and entrepreneurship.

The Panel Discussions featured several participants, including Malta Film Commissioner Johann Grech, Malta Film Commission Chairperson Beverly Cutajar Malta Enterprise Chief Executive Officer Kurt Farrugia, Malta Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Marthese Portelli, amongst others.

During these Panel Discussions, different educational pathways were discussed. Through support and collaboration with the Ministry for Tourism and the Malta Film Commission, the University of Malta and MCAST are offering a range of courses that prepare students for the Film Industry. Such courses range from Diploma level to Masters’ level.

Malta Film Commissioner Johann Grech said that Education and entrepreneurship incentives are important elements so that the country can offer what the Film Industry requires, both internationally and locally. “As a country, we need to remain more competitive. We need to keep investing in our structure, so that we make sure that our industry remains a sustainable film industry. As Film Commission, we remain focused to create a World Class Film Industry in Malta.

Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farrugia, said that the Government of Malta, through Malta Enterprise, already offers support for new enterprises and projects being held in Malta. “Being such a small country, we have all the requisites to closely work and support each other”. Malta is investing in the film industry and it is offering different funds. As a country, we need to promote further such opportunities for producers and investors.

Malta Chamber of Commerce CEO Marthese Portelli said that arthese Portelli said that the knowhow, the context, and entrepreneurs mindset are three crucial ingredients in the creative industry. “As a country, we have a lot of talents and we need to think not only locally but globally and The Malta Chamber helps the industry with these objectives.”

Nobel Prize laureate Olga Tokarczuk, laureate of the Golden Bear Adina Pintilie, award-winning theater director Monika Strzepka, winner of the Gdynia’s Golden Lions Agnieszka Smoczynska and program director of the Sundance festival Kim Yutani – these are just a few outstanding figures from a wide group of artists who used to be members of the jury of the New Horizons International Competition. The call for submissions for this year’s edition of the Competition lasts until March 20. The jury will also be excellent this year, more details soon.

Submit your film

What is the New Horizons International Competition?

The NHIC is the core of the New Horizons International Film Festival; it’s a platform where artistic cinema that extends the boundaries set by conventional filmmakers is presented. The competition is meant for films that constantly push the boundaries of “new horizons.” We look for unique and original narratives, documentaries, essays, and animations that experiment with how the film should look like and communicate with its audience, either following or opposing the traditional concepts. We await creations that demand a vastly different perspective – that provoke to think and feel. Recent winners are Theo and metamorphosis by Damien Odoul, The Metamorphosis of Birds by Catarina Vasconcelos, Bait by Mark Jenkin, Holiday by Isabella Eklöf or Western by Valeska Grisebach.

The Competition includes productions that are longer than 60 minutes and have been produced after 1st of January 2021 (that have never been publicly screened in Poland). The festival organizers prefer world, international, and European premieres. The winner of the New Horizons International Competition will be awarded the Grand Prix and a prize of 15,000 EUR. The Festival audience will be offering their award, too. Submissions are now open at nowehoryzonty.pl and will be accepted until 20th of March 2022.

The 22nd New Horizons International Film Festival will be held on July 21-31 in Wroclaw, Poland.

The special hybrid edition of WEMW is about to kick off and, starting today, 900 film professionals from over 60 different countries will have exclusive access to a wide range of activities, from the traditional real-time presentations of selected projects and work-in-progress, inspirational lectures and case studies, to the more unusual Green Lottery, the Creative Europe Desks Quiz Show and a Musical Plant Installation!

But let’s have a closer look at the 2022 programme: 

1. All pitching sessions & showcases & award ceremony

Participants will enjoy the presentation of 12 fiction films (Jan 24) and 10 feature documentaries (Jan 25) during the Co-Production Forum Pitching sessions. During the MIDPOINT Shorts Showcase (Jan 24), professionals interested in short films will be able to discover 4 short international film projects selected and developed by the program MIDPOINT Shorts 2021-2022. 

Three showcases will be dedicated to works in progress: Last Stop Trieste (Jan 24) will show 6 documentary projects in a final editing stage; First Cut+ (Jan 25) will present 8 international work-in-progress feature films previously selected in a new programme including tailor-made modules for enhancing their promotion & audience engagement strategies; This is It (Jan 26) will show 9 work-in-progress feature fiction films and hybrid works with a strong visual and artistic approach with Italian majority or minority co-producers. 

2. Panels and collaboration

Thanks to the close collaboration with several major content partners, WEMW has put together a series of sessions tackling different challenging topics. EAVE will lead the session “Future thinking of data analysis in the audiovisual industry”, where different speakers will look at audiovisual data and potential technological tools to better understand them from different perspectives: streamers, indie European industry, the audience potential of our scripts. For the third year the MIDPOINT Institute, key partner of the Cold Open Drama Series Lab, will organize the lecture “Financing Opportunities for Series”. ESoDoc, co-organizer of the first edition of the Inspirational Lab ‘Impact Pyramid’, will curate the keynote “What happens when Impact & Production dance together?”. ACE Producers will “come back to Trieste” to host the “ACE Interview with Ankica Jurić Tilić”, co-founder of the production company Kinorama. Thanks to the new partnership with MEDICI – The Film Funding Journey (organized by FOCAL), WEMW will dedicate the panels IN THE SPOTLIGHT: UK, Ireland & Russia Funding Landscape and Canada Funding Landscape to the 2022 countries in focus. For the very first time genre cinema will break into When East Meets West and the Fantastic Film Forum of the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival will curate the session “Crossing Genre Cinema. New Trends in Contemporary Genre Cinema”. Last but not least, EWA Network and CIRCLE Doc Accelerator will join forces in discussing how to create a fairer, more equitable and inclusive audiovisual industry in the closing panel “Embracing a New Future and Inclusive Future”. This year, in collaboration with the Documentary Association of Europe, WEMW launched the series Tiny Desk Conversations, informal chats to introduce a variety of topics and a few special guests from the 2022 countries in focus. 

3. Round tables with decision makers & producers from the 2022 spotlight territories

The 2022 edition will also feature a rich programme entirely dedicated to producers attending the market. Producers interested in deepening their knowledge on editorial line of doc & fiction sales, commissioning editors as well as training initiatives will have at their disposal 7 hours between Jan 24 and 25, and 32 decision makers in the section WHO IS WHO | Meet the Decision Makers. While as part of the 2022 East & West countries in focus, participants will have the chance to attend special lectures and round-tables dedicated to this year’s spotlight countries: Russia, UK, Ireland, Canada and USA. A wide range of topics will be addressed by local key players and producers.  

4. Out of the box

To counterbalance these industry activities, WEMW has teamed up with several friends from the industry and, after the success of the 2021 edition, is about to launch a completely renewed out of the box programme where registered producers will be able to do magic tricks together with festivals, markets and sales representatives during The Magic Co-Production, learn more about their hopes and dreams in The Magic Wishlist, and take part in this year’s Quiz Show dedicated to the Creative Europe Desks’ secrets. Widely successful in 2021, we are glad to bring back the Fortune Teller Corner where film issues are solved with the help of a tarot deck. 

This year, even more than for the last ‘out of the box’ edition, contents and formats have gone hand in hand with a very simple underlying idea: new generation, same heart!

Register now at live.wemw.it! 

Kids Kino Docs is a new development programme addressed to filmmakers from Poland and Norway who would like to make documentary films and series for young audiences. Application deadline is 7.02.2022.

Kids Kino Docs is much more than a script development programme, participants under guidance of leading tutors will not only focus on developing the story but will work on different aspects of production.

During the 15 months long programme, our tutors, Kirsten Bonnén Rask and Paweł Ziemilski, and international guest experts, will also help the filmmakers in a process of collecting documentation, preparing for filming, filming itself, and, finally, editing.

As a result, the participants should finish the programme with a well-developed story and part of the shooting material ready, with an editing process started.

Additionally, participants will have a chance to get partial support for the project’s development including documentation, editing, or shooting.

APPLY HERE: https://kidskinoindustry.pl/kids-kino-docs/

The second day of the Malta Film Week, themed ‘It’s About the Economy, Creating Careers’, started with a panel discussion with Maltese Government executives and professionals where the best strategies to push the local audiovisual industry were discussed. The main objective is to strengthen the domestic tv and film industry by education, training and funding to expand internationally after.

Amongst those participating in these sessions, there were Minister for National Heritage, Arts and Local Government Jose Herrera, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry for Tourism and Consumer Protection Ronald Mizzi, Film Commissioner Johann Grech, amongst other professionals.

Minister for National Heritage, Arts and Local Government Jose Herrera said that Malta offers a unique and particular environment for the Film Industry at large. He said that Malta has attracted film producers for decades, since it offers a unique and particular environment, including unique heritage, traditions, and buildings.

Permanent Secretary for the Ministry for Tourism and Consumer Protection Ronald Mizzi said that the Malta is not only home to great people and talent but also home to great infrastructure with training institutions and education. 

Film Commissioner Johann Grech, highlighted that the Malta Film Commission is committed to keep creating opportunities for the generations to come. He stressed that the Malta Film Commission is committed to support further local co-productions and also to increase funding opportunities for Maltese producers working on foreign productions.

During the panels that followed, a discussion was held related to the current financial incentives and schemes relating to the Film Industry. During the panel discussion, it was mentioned that the Government of Malta has recently updated its cash rebate to 40% of eligible expenditure. Feature film, Television film or Television Series or Mini-Series, Animation, Creative documentary, Transmedia and Cross-media productions are all eligible for the incentives, provided that they are all or partially produced in Malta. Local Film Incentives, such as incentives from Screen Malta were also discussed in detail during the panel discussion.Day 2 was concluded with a Masterclass session entitled, “The Art and Business of Film Production, where veteran Hollywood producer Craig Baumgarten offered his insight into the complex world of producing film content for the international market.a style="background-color: initial; font-style: italic;" onclick="window.open('/a href="/><br /></a></p>"