PRESS INFORMATION
31st March 2015


Unconventional Storytellers, Friends from Wroclaw and Gripping Tales of East Germany - the goEast Specials

The 15th edition of goEast - Festival of Central and Eastern European Film, hosted by Deutsches Filminstitut and taking place from 22nd to 28th April 2015 in Wiesbaden, Germany, is once again presenting a colourful supporting programme with lots of variety in its Specials section this year. Festivalgoers can choose between special film events, a photographic exhibition, a reading and numerous parties, or even take the time to take them all in.

For this year's Matinee, goEast is pleased to welcome Dominik Graf, one of Germany's most significant directors. In films such as MORLOCK (1993) or EINE STADT WIRD ERPRESST (2006) he has time and again explored his interest in socialism as it is practiced in reality and the consequences of the fall of the communist East bloc - topics which are also close to goEast's heart. On Sunday, 26th April (11 am), Dominik Graf will present his fiction feature THE RED COCKATOO (Germany 2006), in which he memorialised East Germany's Bohemian scene revolving around the legendary bar of the same name. Following the screening, a conversation between the director and film critic Olaf Möller will explore Graf's affinity for GDR history and Eastern European subjects.
East German film classics are in the focus of the goEast School Film Days this year. In co-operation with the DEFA foundation, goEast will present children and students from Wiesbaden and the surrounding area a short film programme focussing on animation as well as the fiction feature KARLA / CARLA (East Germany 1965/90). The latter was banned back in the days of the GDR and gives insight into a fascinating slice of recent German history. The School Film Days provide a very young audience with the opportunity to experience the joys of film in a unique festival atmosphere.

Not one but two items on the programme place Wiesbaden's sister city Wroclaw firmly in the spotlight. The T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival, which takes place in Wroclaw, will present the German premiere of the award-winning Polish film BOGOWIE / GODS (Poland 2014) from Lukasz Palkowski on Thursday, 23rd April (5.30 pm). Palkowski's film has already attracted over two million viewers to theatres in Poland. And on Saturday, 25th April (4.30 pm), festivalgoers will have the chance to experience Leo Kantor's W OSZUKIWANIU UTRACONEGO KRAJOBRAZU / IN SEARCH OF THE LOST LANDSCAPE (Sweden, Poland 2014), which tells the unique story of the Jewish community which produced a rich culture in and around Wroclaw after the Second World War.

Beyond the projection rooms, goEast has also got a whole lot more in store. From Thursday, 23rd April, Katharina Dubno will be presenting her photo exhibition "Hosted by Strangers - Travels of a Couchsurfer Through Eastern Europe" in the frauen museum wiesbaden.
Danko Rabrenovic will grace goEast once again with his presence, after having already filled the festival centre to capacity in 2013. Danko will be reading from his new book "Herzlich Willkommencic - Heimatgeschichten vom Balkanizer" on Sunday, 26th April (8 pm).

And of course this year the goEast Parties will once again be putting the festive in festival! On Friday, 24th April (10 pm), the newly opened Kesselhaus club room at the Wiesbadener Schlachthof will host the legendary goEast Party, with live music from ERIK & THE WORLDLY SAVAGES and Eastern European club grooves from DJ team SCHWARZMEER BBQ. On Saturday, 25th April (10 pm), BONANZA BEAT CLUB MEETS GOEAST will be spinning the party hits and filling the dance floor at Kulturpalast. Finally, the goEast wrap party in Kulturpalast will celebrate the final night of a fine festival on Tuesday, 28th April (11 pm), with a rousing live performance from HOTEL OST and Balkan beats from DJ JANECK.

15th Annual goEast Film Festival from 22nd to 28th April 2015 in Wiesbaden
From 22nd to 28th April, goEast - Festival of Central and Eastern European Film will take place for the 15th time in Wiesbaden, Germany. Every year since 2001, the festival, hosted by Deutsches Filminstitut, has presented cinematic work from Central and Eastern Europe in all its great artistic and thematic diversity. Whether unconventional auteur films or mainstream productions, fiction features or documentaries - the selected works are impressive cinematic feats, most of which have yet to be discovered by the Western film market. The richness of Central and Eastern European auteur cinema is on display in the 16 contributions selected for the Competition for Fiction Features and Documentaries. Moving, idiosyncratic and ground-breaking productions paint a nuanced portrait of the societies of Eastern Europe. Filmmaking in time of war is one of the core themes of this year's edition of goEast.

Current images for the festival can be downloaded at:
http://www.filmfestival-goeast.de/presse

Applications for festival accreditation for representatives of the press interested in covering the festival can be found at: http://www.filmfestival-goeast.de/presse

goEast - Festival of Central and Eastern European Film is hosted by Deutsches Filminstitut and supported by numerous partners. The festival is primarily funded by the Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts, the State Capital Wiesbaden, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland, the BHF-BANK Foundation, the Adolf und Luisa Haeuser-Stiftung für Kunst und Kulturpflege, the Federal Foreign Office and Krušovice. Media partners include among others 3sat, the FAZ, hr-iNFO and the city magazine sensor.

More information at: www.filmfestival-goeast.de


Press contact:
Romina Neu
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fon: +49-611-236 843 -16            
            
goEast Festivalbüro                                     
Friedrichstraße 32                                    
65185 Wiesbaden
GERMANY

Host:
Deutsches Filminstitut - DIF e.V.
Schaumainkai 41
60596 Frankfurt am Main
GERMANY

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www.filmfestival-goEast.de