Press Release
The goEast festival countdown 2014 has started: cultural dialogue more important than ever
- Opening Ceremony on Wednesday, 9 April in the Caligari FilmBühne
- From 9 to 15 April the Festival of Central and Eastern European Film presents a total of 140 films from 22 countries, including 13 German premieres and two world premieres in the Competition
- goEast drive-in cinema in the Wiesbaden city center on Monday and Tuesday 7-8 April
- Russian-Ukrainian Cultural Panel: "Let's Keep Talking! The role film culture can play in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict." on 10 April in the festival center
On Wednesday, 9 April, just before the start of goEast - Festival of Central and Eastern European Film in Wiesbaden, Claudia Dillmann, director of Deutsches Filminstitut, refers to the particular importance of the festival in regards to current events: "From the beginning, goEast was also concerned with presenting Central and Eastern European cinema in reference to political and societal issues, exploring it through symposia, talks, and discussions, and simultaneously fostering every form of cultural exchange, dialogue and understanding. This forum is more important than ever, when geopolitical interests re-escalate the old East-West conflict that was almost believed to be overcome."
This year the festival will be opened on 9 April with the Polish drama IDA, which tells a moving Jewish family story with intense black-and-white images.
goEast festival director Gaby Babić summarized the highlights of the programme at the press conference today on Thursday: "Once again, we were able to collect the best Eastern Europe has to offer cinematically for the 14th edition of our festival. There are promising debuts in the Competition, continuously current masterpieces in the Symposium, hot topics that occupy all of Europe. At the same time our programme also reacts to the dramatic developments in Ukraine. We are concerned showing with concrete solidarity with the powers fighting for more democracy. The young filmmakers programme, one of goEast's emphases since the beginning, is being expanded into the new East-West Talent Lab - thanks to the support by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain and the BHF-BANK Foundation."
At the press conference, Ingmar Jung, State Secretary at the Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts, emphasized: "The festival's annually rising attendance numbers demonstrate an increasing demand for cultural exchange between East and West. The festival is a wonderful example of how international understanding can function today. With our annual financial support, the State Government is very pleased to be able to contribute to the success of the festival and simultaneously to international understanding in Europe."
Rose-Lore Scholz, Head of Cultural Affairs of Wiesbaden, State Capital of Hessen, is also proud of the festival and the newly created forum for the festival's own talent promotion: "goEast brings international flair to Wiesbaden and establishes a highlight in the rich cultural life of the state capital. We look forward to the numerous guests - from West and East - during the festival week. Mutual understanding can only be deeped and friendships extended through people getting to know each other better. I am also glad that goEast was able to launch a new young filmmakers talent programme with the East-West Talent Lab. In addition to the programme offering of various workshop and networking opportunities, young filmmakers receive the possibility to present themselves with finished work and project ideas and receive new prizes."
"The Robert Bosch Stiftung is pleased to grant the Film Prize for International Cooperation at goEast. For many young filmmakers from Germany and Eastern Europe the programmes we have developed together with goEast in past years was the starting point for an international career crowned with prestige," stated Frank Albers, project manager for Art and Culture at the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
"ŠKODA has its roots in the Czech Republic, a country with high European culture. For that reason the support of young talent in the cultural areas of cinema, music, and visual art is a central pillar of our social commitment. In that way, goEast and ŠKODA are ideal partners," according to Ulrike Plapp, Company Communication ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland.
goEast awards prizes in the amount of 40,000 euro
The centrepiece at goEast is the Competition, in which the ten fiction features and six documentaries compete for the ŠKODA Film Award (10,000 euro). In addition, the Documentary Award "Remembrance and Future", donated by the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" (10,000 euro), the Award of the City of Wiesbaden for Best Director (7,500 euro), and the Award of the Federal Foreign Office for "artistic originality which creates cultural diversity" (4,000 euro) will also be granted. The FIPRESCI Jury awards the International Film Critic's Prize.
In addition to the awards in the main Competition, the BHF-BANK Foundation announces the Open Frame Award for Experimental Film and Video Art (5,000 euro) for the first time. This competition is part of the East-West Talent Lab. The goEast Development Award (3,500 euro) is granted in the context of the Lab. The East-West Talent Lab is made possible by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain.
Already for the eighth time, in collaboration with goEast the Robert Bosch Stiftung grants the Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung for International Cooperation to talented young filmmakers from Germany and Eastern Europe. Up to three ambitious projects in the categories Animation, Documentary and Short Fiction Film are selected by an independent jury and provided with a total of up to 210,000 euro.
The goEast Drive-In Cinema
In the run-up to festival goEast will stage a drive-in cinema on the central square in Wiesbaden, the "Dern'sches Gelände", on Monday and Tuesday, 7-8 April. Among other films, the five winners of the previous Students' Competition will be shown on large screen. To that end, goEast mobility partner ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland provides twenty saloon cars that will also afford a seamless shuttle service during the festival week. Those interested can take a seat in one of the cars and experience in advance the diversity of Central and Eastern European cinema in an unusual setting.
The Symposium (Friday-Sunday, 11-13 April) sets off on the search for an elusive phenomenon of film history, the "Nouvelle Vague Polonaise". The Portrait is dedicated to Polish director Ma?gorzata Szumowska. Specials and Highlights present exiting events beyond the cinema auditorium and film hits. Jaroslav Rudiš, author of "Alois Nebel", will read from his new novel "The End of Punk in Helsinki" on Thursday, 10 April. On Saturday, 12 April the comedy THE FIRST SWALLOW (USSR 1975) gets us in the mood for the approaching Football World Cup. Contemporary cinema, classics, and the panel discussion Slovak Cinema Now put the focus on the cinematic country of Slovakia. Actress Anja Antonowicz and actor Alexander Scheer will present the fiction feature WEST at the Matinee on Sunday, 13 April. The goEast School Film Days show current Czech animation and a fairy tale classic. On Thursday, 10 April at 2 pm the panel "Let's Keep Talking! The role film culture can play in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict" will tackle the highly contemporary developments, including Russian and Ukrainian festival participants.
Tickets for the festival can be purchased at the tourist information in Wiesbaden (phone +49 (0)611 172 9780) as well as at the Caligari FilmBühne (phone +49 (0) 611 315050).
Current information about the festival can also be found at
Twitter https://twitter.com/goEastFF und
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/goEastFF
Current photographic material under:: http://www.filmfestival-goeast.de/index.php?article_id=19&clang=0
goEast - Festival of Central and Eastern European Film is organized by the Deutsches Filminstitut in Wiesbaden and depicts the diversity of cinema in Central and Eastern Europe. It is supported by numerous partners: the main supporters are the Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts and the State Capital of Wiesbaden, the EVZ Foundation, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland, the Deutsch-Polnische Wissenschaftsstiftung, Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, the BHF-BANK Foundation and the Adolf und Luisa Haeuser-Stiftung für Kunst und Kulturpflege.
Press Contact:
Anne von der Gönne
+49 611 / 23 68 43-16
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goEast Filmfestival
Friedrichstraße 32
65185 Wiesbaden
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www.filmfestival-goEast.de
Organizer:
Deutsches Filminstitut – DIF
Schaumainkai 41
60596 Frankfurt am Main
