GOEAST PORTRAIT FEATURES THE INNOVATIVE ROMANIAN CINEMA OF RADU JUDE // “FILM HERITAGE IN TRANSITION” IN FOCUS AT GOEAST SYMPOSIUM
Wiesbaden/Frankfurt, Germany, February 5 2020: For the 20th anniversary edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film (running from May 5 to 11, 2020) the festival team is excited to welcome Bucharest-born director Radu Jude to Wiesbaden.
With his hybrid style combining elements of fiction film, documentary cinema and theatre, Jude is rightfully considered a pioneer of the "new" Romanian New Wave, one whose films are above all devoted to confronting the dark chapters in the history of Central Europe, and Romania in particular. The goEast PORTRAIT for 2020 will showcase a comprehensive retrospective of Jude's work. Jude's films have already been featured twice in goEast's Competition section, namely his fiction feature debut THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD (Cea mai fericitã fatã din lume, 2009) and the documentary THE DEAD NATION (Tara moartă, 2017). This year's PORTRAIT will present six feature-length and six short films by Radu Jude, including his most recent work UPPERCASE PRINT (Tipografic majuscul, 2020). In addition, the director will be on hand for an extensive workshop talk.
Finally, Radu Jude will also be appearing for an audience talk at the Hessen State Theatre as part of a co-operation between goEast and the International May Festival Wiesbaden. You can find more information on this event and others from mid February at www.maifestspiele.de.
Against the Looming Loss of Film Heritage – Surveying the Transitional Period at the goEast Symposium
For millions of individuals from Leipzig to Vladivostok, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union ushered in an era of all-encompassing systemic change. This year's goEast Symposium will take a look at the transitional period between 1985 and 1999: the cinema of these heady days was informed by mass lay-offs, the rise of organised crime and malaise, while also featuring great creative freedom and unhindered experimentation. Established structures for production and funding dissolved into thin air, forcing filmmakers to explore independent production options for the first time, while systematic archiving practices were abandoned. As a result, the film heritage of this era is at risk of being lost forever. Today we are still fortunate to find true screen treasures here, including aesthetic experiments, documentary films that dare to tackle taboo topics and fiction features exploring post-socialist narratives. For the Symposium, goEast is inviting international film scholars and researchers, cultural practitioners and filmmakers to gather in Wiesbaden to engage in a cinematic survey of the period in the scope of numerous lectures, panels and discussions. The goEast Symposium is made possible with the generous support of the Federal Foundation for the Study of Communist Dictatorship in East Germany.
The 20th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film is scheduled to take place May 5-11 2020 in Wiesbaden, Germany.
The festival, hosted annually by DFF - Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, has been presenting the artistry of Central and Eastern European filmmaking in all its diversity every year since its inception in 2001. Whether idiosyncratic auteur cinema or mainstream fare, fiction features or documentary films – the productions featured here are impressive works still largely unknown to Western audiences. In addition to the approximately 110 films of the official selection, a rich supporting programme once again invites guests to immerse themselves in the multifaceted cultures of our neighbours to the East.
Festival images are available for download at: Download
The full programme for the 20th anniversary edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film will be announced in mid April.
