24/04/2024 - The competition section, which is the festival's centrepiece, is showcasing 16 feature-length fiction and documentary films, offering a wide range of genres and themes

The 24th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film (24-30 April) kicks off today at the Caligari movie theatre in Wiesbaden, Germany, with Levan Akin’s gentle transgender drama Crossing [+see also:
film review
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interview: Levan Akin
film profile], which also opened the Panorama section of the latest Berlinale. Prizes totalling €21,500 await the winning films, including the coveted Golden Lily for Best Film, the Award for Best Director and the CEEOL Award for Best Documentary Film.

A distinguished jury will apply its professional expertise in order to single out the best among the contenders. It consists of Trieste Film Festival artistic director Nicoletta Romeo; Romanian actress Ilinca Manolache, who stood out with her performance in Radu Jude’s latest effort, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World [+see also:
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interview: Radu Jude
film profile]); acclaimed Czech film producer Jiří Konečný; Kosovar director, curator, activist and performer Hamze Bytyçi, who serves as the artistic director of the AKE DIKHEA? international festival for Romani cinema in Berlin; and Polish journalist, producer and filmmaker Maciek Hamela, whose latest documentary In the Rearview [+see also:
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Delving into the pressing conflicts of our time – from armed confrontations to family struggles – the films in the competition propose a glimpse into the varied landscapes of Central and Eastern Europe. Notable entries include Luka Beradze's darkly humorous political satire Smiling Georgia [+see also:
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interview: Luka Beradze
film profile] and Mokalake Tsmindani’s mystery-drama Citizen Saint [+see also:
film review
interview: Tinatin Kajrishvili
film profile], both from Georgia and both premiered at last year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival; Olga Chernykh's multi-generational essayistic portrait of the Ukrainian war A Picture to Remember [+see also:
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interview: Mladen Djordjević
film profile], which celebrated its world premiere at Toronto; and the latest IDFA winner, the intimate family documentary 1489 [+see also:
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interview: Shoghakat Vardanyan
film profile] by Shoghakat Vardanyan, for which she draws on the tragic disappearance of her brother in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020.

Besides placing a special focus on Central Asia, Dmitrii Davydov's Siberian drama Plague and Askhat Kuchinchirekov's tale about the end of childhood Bauryna Salu [+see also:
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film profile] and Dávid Mikulán and Bálint Révész's coming-of-age documentary KIX [+see also:
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film profile] sheds light on the struggles of a trans woman in Hungary. Ivan Tymchenko's magical-realist biopic Oxygen Station [+see also:
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interview: Ivan Tymchenko
film profile] and Nicole Philmon's documentary on the celebration of Victory Day in Russia, 09.05.2022, provide unique perspectives on historical and contemporary events, while Andrei Cohn's theatrical tragedy Holy Week [+see also:
film review
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interview: Andrei Cohn
film profile] explores anti-Semitism in 19th-century, rural Romania. Finally, Andrei Kashperski's satirical mini-series Processes uses biting humour to comment on recent Belarusian history and the Russo-Ukraine War.

A large delegation from Kosovo and Albania, including filmmakers Antoneta Kastrati and Gentian Koçi, will present their Albanian-language works that have shaped the region's cultural identity and will take part in the Kosovo-Albania Special Focus, curated by filmmaker Blerta Zeqiri. As for the annual Symposium, this year it is titled “The Other Queers – Cinematic Images from the Periphery of Europe” and is dedicated to the various cultural backgrounds from the “imaginary East”.