The 21st edition of goEast, hosted annually by Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, was able to shift nearly all of the originally planned 92 festival films from 38 countries (including 32 German and two world premieres) to digital space. However, for the second "pandemic edition" of goEast, the festival organisers were not content to merely offer a media library.
Instead, a festival centre also blossomed in Wiesbaden behind closed doors, in strict compliance with public health guidelines, featuring ample space for festival guests, two festival studios, a COVID test station run by the German Red Cross, and an action art performance by the Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi.
Sixteen titles were selected for the Competition for Central and Eastern European feature films and documentaries. The Competition films were made available online in cooperation with the VoD provider filmwerte.
goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film was hosted by DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum and made possible with the support of numerous partners. Primary funding partners are HessenFilm und Medien GmbH, the State Capital Wiesbaden, Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, BHF BANK Foundation, Adolf und Luisa Haeuser-Stiftung für Kunst und Kulturpflege, Renovabis and Deutsch-Tschechische Zukunftsfonds.
FULL LIST OF WINNERS:
Golden Lily for Best Film:
This Rain Will Never Stop (Ukraine, Germany, Latvia, Qatar)
Directed by Alina Gorlova
Award of the City of Wiesbaden for Best Director:
Juja Dobrachkous for Bebia, à mon seul désir (Georgia, UK)
Award for Cultural Diversity:
How I Became a Partisan (Czech Republic, Slovakia) Documentary
Directed by Vera Lacková
Special Mention:
Chupacabra (Russia)
Directed by Grigory Kolomytsev
FIPRESCI International Film Critic's Award (feature film):
Bebia, à mon seul désir (Georgia, UK)
Directed by Juja Dobrachkous
FIPRESCI International Film Critics Award (documentary):
Please Hold the Line (Austria) Documentary
Directed by Pavek Cuzuioc
Open Frame Award:
The Spheres City – Tangible Utopias (Romania)
Directed by Ioana Mischie
Open Frame Award – Special Mention:
#PrisonersVoice (Ukraine)
Directed by Nikita Bohdanov
RheinMain Short Film Award:
Ural (Germany)
Directed by Alla Churikova
RheinMain Short Film Award – Special Mention:
Man (Latvia)
Directed by Yulia Timoshkina
Renovabis Research Grant (for a documentary project with a focus on human rights):
Second Hand War (Czech Republic, Germany)
Directed by Anna Benner, Eluned Zoe Aiano
goEast Development Award:
King Matt the First (Poland)
Directed by Jaśmina Wójcik
Produced by Agnieszka Rostropowicz-Rutkowska
Pitch the Doc Award:
Spa (Lithuania)
Directed by Ieva Šakalytė
