The Award for Best Film Goes to Serbian Tragicomedy REQUIEM FOR MRS. J., German-Georgian Directorial Duo Nana & Simon Honoured with Two Prizes
The 17th edition of goEast - Festival of Central and Eastern European Film came to a successful conclusion on Tuesday, May 2nd, with a festive awards ceremony at Wiesbaden's Caligari FilmBühne. More than 12,000 guests attended the festival, hosted by Deutsches Filminstitut, providing for full cinemas and intensive lectures, discussions and talks. All in all 111 films from 29 countries were screened over the seven days of the festival, and awards worth a grand total of 50,000 euros were presented at the festival finale.
The members of the international jury - Latvian director Laila Pakalniņa (chairwoman), producer Max Tuula (Estonia/Russia), producer Sam Taylor (Great Britain), actor Jakob Diehl (Germany) and director Igor Drljača (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Canada) - awarded the main prizes to REQUIEM FOR MRS. J. (REKVIJEM ZA GOSPOĐU J., Serbia/Bulgaria/Macedonia/Russia/France, 2017, directed by Bojan Vuletić), MY HAPPY FAMILY (CHEMI BEDNIERI OJAKHI, Germany/France/Georgia, 2017, directed by Nana & Simon) and CITY OF THE SUN (MZIS QALAQI, Georgia/USA/Qatar/Holland, 2017, directed by Rati Oneli).
Festival director Gaby Babić emphasised: "I am very pleased to see that this year's focus on strong female characters in cinema and female filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe is also reflected in the selected films."
An Overview of the goEast Prize Winners
The Golden Lily for Best Film went to REQUIEM FOR MRS. J. (REKVIJEM ZA GOSPOĐU J., Serbia/Bulgaria/Macedonia/Russia/France, 2017). This tragicomedy tells the story of depressive Jelena, who is in the midst of final preparations to take her own life. The prize, worth 10,000 euros, was accepted personally at Tuesday evening's event by director Bojan Vuletić, together with lead actress Mirjana Karanović. The jury explained their selection by commenting simply: "Thank you for not killing hope, Mrs. J."
Georgian-German directorial duo Nana & Simon won the Award of the City of Wiesbaden for Best Director (endowed with a prize of 7,500 euros). Their film MY HAPPY FAMILY (CHEMI BEDNIERI OJAKHI, Germany/France/Georgia, 2017), in which 52-year-old Manana resolves to move out of the family apartment and embark on a life of her own, opened this year's festival. Nana Ekvtimishvili und Simon Gross previously received the Award for Best Film at goEast 2013 for IN BLOOM. The jury explained its choice by commenting that the "film shows how difficult it is to open a window and let some fresh air in". Georgian actress Tsisia Kumsishvili, who plays the role of the daughter Nino in the film, was on hand to accept the award on behalf of cast and crew.
The documentary film CITY OF THE SUN (MZIS QALAQI, Georgia/USA/Qatar/Holland, 2017, directed by Rati Oneli), a portrait of the mining settlement Chiatura in Western Georgia which has become a sort of modern ghost town, was honoured with the Award of the Federal Foreign Office for Cultural Diversity (4,000 euros) for "captur[ing] the resilience and beauty of a place and its people as they overcome a grey city, a grey year and a grey century".
In addition, the jury also presented Honourable Mentions to the Latvian-Lithuanian war drama EXILED (PELNU SANATORIJA, 2016, directed by Dāvis Sīmanis) featuring Ulrich Matthes in the leading role, as well as Hana Jušić's virtuoso feature film debut QUIT STARING AT MY PLATE (NE GLEDAJ MI U PIJAT, Croatia, 2016).
Nana & Simon's MY HAPPY FAMILY was also honoured with the International Film Critics' Award for Best Fiction Feature by an international jury representing FIPRESCI. The jury called the film "a magnificent work of cinema that depicts the life of a Georgian family in a universal and harmonious fashion".
The International Film Critics' Award for Best Documentary Film went to Ivan Ramljak's ISLANDS OF FORGOTTEN CINEMAS (KINO OTOK, Croatia, 2016), which pulls at the heartstrings of cineastes and "with simple means and a minimalist style shows in wonderful manner how the cinema is part of the natural landscape".
In the Experimental Film and Video Art Competition, made possible with the support of BHF-BANK Foundation, Frankfurt-based artist Aleksandar Radan won the Open Frame Award (worth 5,000 euros) for his IN BETWEEN IDENTITIES, in which the audience observes game characters in a virtual world in a manner bordering on voyeurism. The work is "a compelling, refreshingly immoral commentary on the self-searching performances of not only our own seemingly perfect digital mirror images", according to the jury. An Honourable Mention went to EXILE EXOTIC (UK/Russia, 2015, directed by Sasha Litvintseva), a tale of the exotic beginnings of the filmmaker's exile told from the edge of a pool.
The project GILGAMESH 4000 (Russia) by Nick Teplov received the goEast Development Award (worth 3,500 euros and made possible with the support of Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain) for the best pitch at the East-West Talent Lab. The jury commented on the selection thusly: "With captivating images captured on various continents, Nick Teplov creates a vibrant, multi-layered poem of a film. GILGAMESH 4000 has the potential to become a work equally capable of touching audiences and shaking them to the core."
In addition, the jury gave an Honourable Mention to PARALLELS IN THE INFINITY from Hungarian artist Borbála Nagy, stating that the "project sheds light on a painful truth behind current political developments: the corrosion of civil society and democracy starts within the educational system".
In the talent development project OPPOSE OTHERING!, which is dedicated to examining and countering various manifestations of the marginalisation of individuals belonging to specific groups, five directorial tandem teams were selected to receive production grants in the amount of 4,000 euros each, made possible with the support of Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future". The winning tandems are Oksana Kazmina (Ukraine) and Maxim Cirlan (Moldavia) with their project ANTIGONA, Miona Bogović (Serbia/ Germany) and Ana Hoffner (Austria) with THE OTHER ZENIT, Zhanna Ozirna (Ukraine) and Aurelia Natalini (Germany) with BOND, Ion Gnatiuc (Romania) and Artiom Zavadovschi (Moldavia) with FACE TO FACE and finally Andreas Boschmann (Germany) and Aleksandra Medianikova (Russia) with DOMASHNEE VIDEO. The duo teams will return to goEast in 2018 to present the world premieres of their completed films.
The 17th edition of goEast - Festival of Central and Eastern European Film took place from April 26th to May 2nd in Wiesbaden, Germany. Among the many highlights of the festival were guest appearances by internationally celebrated filmmakers Agnieszka Holland, Lana Gogoberidze and Márta Mészáros, the latter the subject of this year's Homage, as well as a touching personal encounter with Artur „Atze" Brauner, accompanied by his family, on the occasion of the world premiere of MARINA, MABUSE AND MORITURI - 70 YEARS OF POSTWAR GERMAN FILM (Germany, 2017, directed by Kathrin Anderson). The goEast Symposium 2017, under the title "Reluctant Feminism: Women Filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe", was met with great interest from the world of film scholarship and research and the general audience alike.
The Prize Winners at goEast 2017
Golden Lily for Best Film (10,000 euros)
REQUIEM FOR MRS. J. (REKVIJEM ZA GOSPOĐU J, Serbia/Bulgaria/Macedonia/ Russia/France, 2017, directed by Bojan Vuletić)
Award of the City of Wiesbaden for Best Director (7,500 euros)
MY HAPPY FAMILY (CHEMI BEDNIERI OJAKHI, Germany/France/ Georgia, 2017, directed by Nana & Simon)
Award of the Federal Foreign Office for Cultural Diversity (4,000 euros)
CITY OF THE SUN (MZIS QALAQI, Georgia/USA/Qatar/Holland, 2017, directed by Rati Oneli)
Honourable Mentions by the Main Jury
EXILED (PELNU SANATORIJA, Latvia/Lithuania, 2016, directed by Dāvis Sīmanis)
QUIT STARING AT MY PLATE (NE GLEDAJ MI U PIJAT, Croatia, 2016, directed by Hana Jušić).
International Film Critics' Award for Best Documentary Film
ISLANDS OF FORGOTTEN CINEMAS (KINO OTOK, Croatia, 2016, directed by Ivan Ramljak)
International Film Critics' Award for Best Fiction Feature
MY HAPPY FAMILY (CHEMI BEDNIERI OJAKHI, Germany/France/ Georgia, 2017, directed by Nana & Simon)
Open Frame Award (5,000 euros, endowed by BHF-BANK Foundation)
IN BETWEEN IDENTITIES (Germany, 2015, directed by Aleksandar Radan)
Honourable Mention: EXILE EXOTIC (UK/Russia, 2015, directed by Sasha Litvintseva)
goEast Development Award (3,500 euros, endowed by Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain)
GILGAMESH 4000 (Russia, directed by Nick Teplov)
Honourable Mention: PARALLELS IN THE INFINITY (Hungary, directed by Borbála Nagy)
Production Grants for OPPOSE OTHERING! (4,000 euros each, endowed by Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future"
- ANTIGONA (Oksana Kazmina, Ukraine, & Maxim Cirlan, Moldavia)
- THE OTHER ZENIT (Miona Bogović, Serbia/Germany, & Ana Hoffner, Austria)
- BOND (Zhanna Ozirna, Ukraine, & Aurelia Natalini, Germany)
- FACE TO FACE (Ion Gnatiuc, Romania, & Artiom Zavadovschi, Moldavia)
- DOMASHNEE VIDEO (Andreas Boschmann, Germany, & Aleksandra Medianikova, Russia)
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, Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" (EVZ), Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland, BHF-BANK Foundation, the Adolf und Luisa Haeuser-Stiftung für Kunst und Kulturpflege, the Federal Foreign Office, Deutsch-Tschechische Zukunftsfonds, the municipality of Eschborn, the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation and Krušovice. Media partners include among others 3sat, the FAZ and hr-iNFO.
