The Symposium at the 15th edition of Wiesbaden's goEast Film Festival is devoted to a slice of the Federal Republic of Germany's cinema history which is closely tied to Eastern Europe.

The goEast Symposium 2015 "The Producer as Civil Engineer: Artur Brauner's Bridges between the Blocks" explores the life's work of the legendary German film producer, which has until now remained largely uninvestigated along the East-West axis. Born in Poland and professionally active as a producer in Germany from 1946 all the way up to today, Brauner is a key figure in the history of the last century: a Holocaust survivor, he went on to significantly influence the cinema of post-war Germany - successfully weathering the industry's crises while continually reinventing himself in the process.

What sets Brauner apart from all other West German producers is his sense of a personal political mission: the remembrance of the Holocaust, the critical examination of the Second World War, but also his efforts to engage in a dialogue with the other side during the Cold War, these all characterised his work starting with his very first productions.

Brauner played a central role in the cultural exchange between the political fronts in the post-war period - with ÓSMY DZIEN TYGODNIA / THE EIGHTH DAY OF THE WEEK (1958, Aleksander Ford) for example, he managed to realise the first feature film co-production between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Polish People's Republic.
Since then, no other producer situated in the Federal Republic of Germany has initiated productions in the various countries of Central and Eastern Europe on such a grand scale. Along the way, Artur Brauner was also able to help politically persecuted filmmakers several times.

Under the direction of Olaf Möller (film journalist / curator, Cologne), the goEast Symposium will guide participants through Artur Brauner's multi-facetted film work from 23rd to 26th April, with seven special presentations from film and media scholars and a programme with thirteen films. The Symposium will culminate in a moderated conversation with Artur Brauner's daughter, Dr. Alice Brauner, both a producer in her own right and managing director of CCC Filmkunst, who lives and works in Berlin.

During the entire Symposium, lectures will take place in the Wiesbadener Casino-Gesellschaft in the mornings and afternoons, and in the evenings films will be shown in the Murnau-Filmtheater.
The lectures are open for all to attend free of charge.
Detailed information regarding the schedule will be available online on the festival website from late March.

15th Annual goEast Film Festival from 22nd to 28th April 2015 in Wiesbaden
Filmmaking in time of war is one of the core themes of this year's edition of goEast - Festival of Central and Eastern European Film, which will take place for the 15th time from 22nd to 28th April in Wiesbaden, Germany. Every year since 2001, the festival, organised by Deutsches Filminstitut, has presented cinematic work from Central and Eastern Europe in all its great diversity. Whether unconventional auteur films or mainstream productions, 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.

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

Applicationsfor 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 organised by Deutsches Filminstitut and is supported by numerous partners. Our main sponsors are the Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts, the State Capital Wiesbaden, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland, the BHF-BANK Foundation, the Adolf und Luisa Haeuser-Stiftung für Kunst und Kulturpflege and the Federal Foreign Office. Our media partners are 3sat, the FAZ and the city magazine sensor.

More information at: www.filmfestival-goeast.de