Jury praises the unusual artistic quality of the feature films in the goEast competition

Main awards at goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film in Wiesbaden for competition entries from Georgia, Russia and Hungary / Hertie Foundation Documentary Award goes to world premiere from Croatia / Side bar programme with international stars like Victor Erofeyev and Jerzy Stuhr especially popular

With the grand award ceremony on Tuesday evening, the sixth instalment of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film in Wiesbaden – came to a close. For seven days, more than 150 long and short films could be seen on the screen – accompanied by film-talks, panel-discussions and an extensive number of special events. Ten feature films and six documentaries were in competition. The head of the jury, Ulrich Gregor, handed out the awards with a total endowment of € 29,500: the “Golden Lily” or Skoda-Award for the Best Film; the Award for the Best Director, endowed by the city of Wiesbaden; a new award highlighting artistic innovation and the support of young professionals sponsored by the Federal Foreign Office; as well as the non-profit Hertie Foundation Award for the Best Documentary. In its statement, the jury expressed its admiration of the unusually high artistic quality of the feature films that were shown.

In the sixth year of the festival’s existence, the many interdisciplinary events in the sidebar programme, a special feature of goEast, have established themselves as a fixture for audiences and trade visitors alike. Highlights of goEast included the symposium “Mainstream Made in Russia“, featuring guests such as the prominent Russian writer and cultural critic Victor Erofeyev. More than 300 spectators attended the scholarly event and the extensive accompanying film series devoted to discovering popular Russian cinema. As in past years, the Students’ Competition and the goEast Concert were audience hits. In its second year, the “Portrait” film series is also well-established. Numerous viewers followed goEast’s invitation to discover the unusual film oeuvre of the Lithuanian artist Sarunas Bartas. goEast’s plentiful offerings for emerging filmmakers also enjoyed great popularity. Young filmmakers from Germany and Central and Eastern Europe had the opportunity to meet with professionals and come away with diverse inspiration for their own projects.

In addition, a wide range of public discussion forums such as a Round Table on issues of distributing Central and Eastern European films in German-speaking countries gave 160 international guests and 80 journalists from Germany and abroad plenty of opportunity to exchange views and make contacts. “The lively discussions and the great interest in the events prove not only that goEast has established itself as a festival for its audience and professionals, but also that an event such as a festival can raise awareness about Eastern Europe“, festival director Christine Kopf said at the award ceremony. In 2006 goEast counted nearly 8,000 visitors at its screenings and its events, furthermore 800 attended the release concert for “Brot”, the new album by the Russian cult band “Leningrad“, which came especially for the occasion.

The Skoda-Award for the Best Film – endowed with € 10,000 – goes to TBILISI-TBILISI (Georgia 2005) by Levan Zakarejsvili, a film that for the jury “portrays in several episodes the changing living conditions in the capital of Georgia, combining sophisticated narrative structure and intelligent observation of everyday life with references to local and international cinema”.

The Award for the Best Director – endowed with €7,500 by the city of Wiesbaden – goes to GARPASTUM (Russia 2005) by Aleksej German Jr. The jury noted: “The film distinguished itself by the expressive style of visual language, the fluidity of the narration and the masterful direction of the actors, with or without the football.”

The Documentary Award by the Hertie Foundation – endowed with €10,000 – goes to Ivona Juka for the film FACING THE DAY (Croatia 2005), that was presented as a world premiere in the goEast-competition. The jury judged: "An encouraging, coherent film which offers a deep analysis of the life of three prisoners who undergo a process of liberating transformation as they are offered the possibility to be engaged in a theatre play.”

„The special charm of the festival lies in its combination of feature films and documentaries in the competition. We endow the Documentary Award for the fifth time: Especially in the long run the genre gives impressive insights in the transformation process of Central and Eastern Europe“, says Marlies Mosiek-Müller, Managing Director of the Hertie Foundation, which is the main private sponsor of goEast since the beginning of the festival.

A new award sponsored by the Federal Foreign Office, endowed with €2,000, highlighting “artistic originality which creates cultural diversity” goes to: DEATH RODE OUT OF PERSIA / A HALAL KILOVAGOLT PERZSIABOL (Hungary 2004) by Putyi Horvath.

The Jury awarded two special mentions, one to the film THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU / MOARTEA DOMNULUI LAZARESCU (Romania 2005) by Cristi Puiu, „in the hope that it will get distribution in Germany“ and one to LABOUR EQUALS FREEDOM / DELO OSVOBAJA (Slovenia 2005) by Damjan Kozole for a film “that succeeded with very limited means to present a touching urban story typical to any society in transition”.

For the fourth time, FIPRESCI the International Federation of Film Critics awarded the International Film Critics' Prize in Wiesbaden. THE CITY OF THE SUN / SLUNECNI STAT directed by Martin Sulik (Czech Republic, Slovakia 2005) convinced the film critics’ jury.

The BHF-BANK Foundation Award, awarded for the first time and endowed with €1,500, goes to PREMIUM by Alexandru Ionescu, Romania 2004 (UNATC, Bucharest). The jury (Christine Kopf, director of goEast, Professor Harald Pulch, Mainz; and Professor Rolf Schubert, Wiesbaden) praised its “confident direction of skilful actors, its sense for apt, subtle nuances and the classical precision of its images“.

On Saturday, the best short films of the international Students’ Film Competition won audience awards endowed with € 1,000. The top awards were won by the documentary film HALID BUNIC – VJECNI / HALID BUNIC – THE ETERNAL (Director: Damir Nemir Janecek from the Academy of Performing Arts Sarajevo – ASU), the short feature film ON WEDNESDAYS / SRIJEDOM (Director: Alma Becirovic from the Academy of Performing Arts Sarajevo – ASU) and the animated film MR. SCHWARTZ, MR. HAZEN & MR. HORLOCKER (director: Stefan Müller from the University of Applied Sciences Wiesbaden).