Between Enchanting Poetry and Stark Reality
The Competition programme of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film consists of ten feature films and six documentaries. The post-communist societies continue to offer a rich variety of topics which are reflected in their films: The 13th edition of goEast, hosted by Deutsches Filminstitut, presents an impressive spectrum of current film productions from Central and Eastern Europe from April 10-16, 2013 in Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, Mainz, and – for the first time – in Darmstadt. The Hungarian director Benedek Fliegauf will serve as Head of the international jury, which selects the winners of the four awards endowed with a total of 31,500 euros.
The 16 contributions of the goEast Competition 2013 were selected from over 350 submissions: This year, the films range geographically from the Czech Republic and Poland to the Baltic States; from the Balkans, Romania and Moldova, Russia and Georgia to Armenia and Kazakhstan. “The Kazakh cinema is very up-and-coming at the moment. I am very happy that we will be presenting the wonderful debut CONSTRUCTORS from this country as a world premiere”, says festival director Gaby Babić. “The rest of the Competition is as diverse as the region itself – thematically as well as stylistically. In addition to the relationship-psycho-thriller by Kirill Serebrennikov, there are also coming-of-age stories, generation gap films, but also reconciliation films. And the Romanian cinema continues to make the hearts of film enthusiasts beat faster. Many of the documentaries delve into family backgrounds and are full of bravery and vision.”
Author Cinema in its Entire Spectrum – the goEast Feature Film Competition
The Competition opens with PANIHIDA (Germany/Republic of Moldova, 2012), a poetic declaration of love by director Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu to her native Moldovan village – which shows how the last farewell of death can become a celebration of life. CIRCLES (Srđan Golubović, Serbia/Germany/Croatia/ Slovenia/ France 2012), on the other hand, pleads for reconciliation with the past based on a tragic incident during the Bosnian War. DOMESTIC (Adrian Sitaru, Romania/Germany 2012) begins with a funeral and develops into an enchantingly strange and lively societal study with the help of the tenants in a Romanian flat building. MY FATHER’S BIKE (Piotr Trzaskalski, Poland 2012) shows how a father, son and grandchild are able to reconcile their shattered relationships through extraordinary circumstances. A difficult father-son relationship is also at the forefront in ROCKER (Marian Crişan, Romania/France/Germany 2012). BETRAYAL (Kirill Serebrennikov, Russia 2012) tells with iron precision a story of betrayal, guilt and the power of oppressed emotions in inter-personal relationships. CONSTRUCTORS (Adilkhan Yerzhanov, Kazakhstan 2013) creates a parable of homelessness and the battle against the arbitrariness of government power not only with a sense of calm but also with a sense for the absurd. IN BLOOM (Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Groß, Georgia/Germany/France 2013) tells the story of a wonderful friendship between two young girls in a fascinating coming-of-age drama set in the insecurity of post-soviet life during the early 1990s in Georgia. The stark reality of life far from the thriving metropolises is the dominating theme which Zdeněk Jiráský addresses with casual poetry and the strength of dreams in FLOWER BUDS (Czech Republic 2011). Finally, Alexey Fedorchenko carries the audience off into a sensual-crazy drama full of magical birches and shamans in his competition entry THE CELESTIAL WIVES OF THE MEADOW MARI (Russia 2012).
All of the feature films in the Competition will compete for the ŠKODA Film Award of 10,000 euros. Nikolaus Reichert, head of Corporate Communications at the award donor ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland, emphasises the uniqueness of goEast: “With its films, goEast provides an understanding of the current socio-political development and the art of Central and Eastern Europe to a larger public. This is also an important concern for ŠKODA, as an automaker from a heartland of European culture.”
In addition, the State Capital Wiesbaden will donate the Award for Best Director (7,500 euros). The Federal Foreign Office will tender the Award “for artistic originality which creates cultural diversity” and has underscored its significance by doubling the prize money from 2,000 to 4,000 euros this year.
An international jury presides over the winners of the highly remunerated awards. The Hungarian director Benedek „Bence“ Fliegauf is the Head of this year’s jury. He achieved international acclaim with the award-winning film DEALER, which received the Award of the City of Wiesbaden for Best Director in 2004 at goEast. His new film JUST THE WIND (Hungary/Germany/France 2012), which appeared in 2012 and received the Jury Grand Prix at last year’s Berlinale, will be shown at goEast as Special in this year’s programme. A FIPRESCI jury will present the International Film Critics’ Award.
An Eye on the Present and Past – the goEast Documentary Competition
The international jury also determines the winner of the Documentary Award “Remembrance and Fu-ture”, which is endowed with 10,000 euros and donated by the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”. Dr. Ralf Possekel, the Foundation’s programme director, points out the social contribution made by documentaries: “We would like to honour dedicated young filmmakers who illustrate the relevance of 20th century history for the challenges we are confronted with today.”
FORTRESS (Lukáš Kokeš, Klára Tasovská, Czech Republic 2012), the first contribution in the Documentary Competition, focuses on a rather absurd reality – and poses the question of what it is like to live in a country that officially does not exist: Transnistria. In ANTON’S RIGHT HERE (Russia 2012), Lyubov Arkus goes beyond observation and uses filmmaking as intervention – and thereby illustrates the existential dimension of the fight for a humane life for the autistic teenager Anton in present-day Russia. Dana Budisavljević tells the story of her coming-out and confronts not only her relatives but also herself with questions which touch upon and strain the mutual network of relationships in FAMILY MEALS (Croatia 2012). In EMBERS (Armenia/Lebanon/Qatar 2012), Tamara Stepanyan travels back to her homeland of Armenia following the death of her beloved grandmother – and cultivates a moving dialogue between two generations about the past and the present. In RESETTLEMENT (Poland/Austria 2012), Filip Antoni Malinowski accompanies his grandparents – who are forced to move because they can no longer afford the increased rent on their flat in Poznań – on the search for a new home. IGRUSHKI (Lina Lužytė, Lithuania 2012) is a subtle yet powerful example of alarming social conditions, which has the camera accompany “illegal” stuffed toy sellers on the job at a train station in the provinces of Belarus.
goEast in Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Mainz
This year, goEast and its host, Deutsches Filminstitut, are pleased to once again present the feature films from the Competition to the audience in Frankfurt at the cinema of Deutsches Filmmuseum. Furthermore, jury president Benedek Fliegauf’s new feature film JUST THE WIND will be screened there. Two films from the film festival programme will be shown in cooperation with the arthouse cinema PALATIN in Mainz. Thanks to the cooperation with the Deutsches Polen-Institut, goEast will also take place in Darmstadt for the first time, presenting two Polish films: AFTERMATH (Władysław Pasi-kowski, Poland/ Netherlands/ Russia/ Slovak Republic 2012), which triggered intense social debate in Poland, as well as IN A BEDROOM (Tomasz Wasilewski, Poland 2012) from the section Beyond Be-longing.
goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film is supported by numerous partners: Main sponsors are the Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts and the State Capital Wiesbaden, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”, ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland and the BHF-BANK Foundation, the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen and the Nassauische Sparkasse.
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