Wiesbaden/Frankfurt, 2 April 2025
goEast 2025: Competition Films and Film Guests
The countdown is on: the 25th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film is set to kick off in three weeks, on Wednesday, 23. April. Dramas, documentaries, comedies, satires and unique portraits – the Main Competition at the heart of the festival once again features the full diversity of cinema from Central and Eastern Europe. A broad audience from Wiesbaden and the surrounding region will have the opportunity to encounter highlights from the contemporary Central and Eastern European film scene. All films will be shown in their original languages with English subtitles – while those screening at Caligari FilmBühne will also feature additional German subtitles. In 14 feature-length fiction and documentary films, the audience will witness the conflicts, both large and small, of our era. These exceptional productions from the past two years will grace the screens of our festival cinemas for an entire week. In addition, festival attendees can enter into dialogue with the filmmakers in the scope of film talks following the individual screenings, as well as every evening in the goEast Clubhouse at Altes Gericht.
The first entry in the Competition is the multi-award-winning drama WINDLESS / BEZVETRIE (BGR, ITA 2024) from Bulgarian director Pavel G. Vesnakov. The film revolves around colourful-tattoo-sporting Koko (played by Bulgarian rapper Fyre), who returns to his hometown from Spain in order to sell his deceased father’s apartment. Koko’s emotional confrontation with the past is captured in rigorously composed images shot in the 1:1 format.
Uzbek director Khusnora Ro’zmatova is represented here with her fiction feature THE SONG SUSTXOTIN / SUSTXOTIN (UZB 2024). In a traditional Uzbek village ravaged by a long drought, the desperate rural population resorts to ancient rituals in the hope of summoning rain. Against this backdrop, former lawmaker Ahbor uncovers a case of corruption. Ahbor tries to ensure that justice is served, but can he really fight a system that he himself once helped to create?
Želimir Žilnik, the venerable master of the Yugoslav Black Wave, returns to Wiesbaden with his intergenerational road-trip film EIGHTY PLUS / RESTITUCIJA, ILI, SAN I JAVA STARE GARDE (SRB, SVN 2025) – the director plans to attend the festival with the film’s lead actor, Milan Kovačević. In Žilnik’s film, Stevan, a former musician, is standing in a Vienna record store when his mobile rings with surprising news: decades after leaving his native Serbia as a young man to perform in various cities around Europe, now over 80 years old, he inherits his parents’ estate. The house, expropriated during the Second World War, is to be returned to Stevan in the scope of a post-socialist restitution program. In Žilnik’s customary docufictional style, we accompany Stevan during a host of encounters – with his family, old friends and a new love interest.
Two musicians, buddies since childhood, their wedding band and a lofty goal: getting their big break in Baku on a national TV talent showcase. Set in rural Azerbaijan, the musical dramedy MY MAGICAL WORLD / MƏNIM SEHRLI DÜNYAM (AZE, UKR, CYP 2025) from director Elvin Adigozel, who made a previous appearance in the goEast Competition in 2022 with BILESUVAR, will celebrate its world premiere at goEast. Frontman Babek dreams of fame and glory and life in the big city, while songwriter Sahil already inhabits his own magical world. Their friendship is put to the test by differing ambitions and life visions.
From Georgia comes Tato Kotetishvili’s HOLY ELECTRICITY / TSMINDA ELEKTROENERGIA (GEO, NLD 2024), a tale of two scrapyard heroes. Together, cousins Gonga and Bart wander the streets of Tiflis, in search of hidden treasure that they can resell at a profit. A crate full of rusty crosses inspires a new business idea – soon though, life no longer revolves exclusively around money, as love and friendship enter the picture. Tato Kotetishvili’s debut outing wins over the viewer with precise observation, long static takes and natural dialogue. Shot in 4:3 format, the film captures the feel of everyday life in Georgia’s capital city while displaying great musicality.
Moonika Siimets’ quirky bit of science-fiction THE BLACK HOLE / MUST AUK (EST, FIN 2024) is celebrating its German premiere in Wiesbaden – the Estonian filmmaker plans to attend as well. Extra-terrestrials land in the midst of an apartment block settlement in Estonia and proceed to inject more than a little chaos into the local residents’ lives. In three episodes, the sci-fi comedy tells of close encounters both bizarre and lusty between (literally) slimy interstellar travellers and members of the Estonian working class.
The Polish literary adaptation THE ASSISTANT / CZŁOWIEK DO WSZYSTKIEGO (POL, GBR 2025), directed by Wilhelm and Anka Sasnal, will also be celebrating its German premiere at goEast. The directorial duo’s most recent collaboration is based on Robert Walser’s novel “Der Gehülfe”. In the early 20th century, jobless Joseph Marti finds a new position as an assistant to the inventor Tobler. Alas, Joseph’s new home quickly reveals its shadow side: Tobler demands blind devotion. Joseph’s will and self-image are both put to the test in this psychological drama.
The German premiere of Tetiana Dorodnitsyna and Andrii Lytvynenko’s wartime portrait EVERYTHING NEEDS TO LIVE / WSZYSTKO MA ŻYĆ (POL, UKR 2024) shows life in Ukraine from an unusual perspective: protagonist Anna Kurkurina is a world champion powerlifter and passionate animal rights activist. Today she pushes herself to her limits in war-torn Ukraine – but instead of struggling with weights, she fights for the survival of abandoned dogs and cats. She cares for strays, finds new homes for them and takes many of the traumatised animals in herself. Even under fire, she stands by their side and refuses to take refuge without them.
Poland is also represented by the historical found-footage documentary film A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF THE COUNTRY / ROK Z ŻYCIA KRAJU (POL 2024), directed by Tomasz Wolski, which depicts the country in the early 1980s. President Jaruzelski declares martial law – an underhanded move to maintain power made in consultation with the Soviet Union. While Western sanctions rock the Polish economy, the population fights on, taking the struggle underground.
Wiesbaden favourites Radu Jude and Christian Ferencz-Flatz are also celebrating a German premiere with their wild advert-montage documentary EIGHT POSTCARDS FROM UTOPIA / OPT ILUSTRATE DIN LUMEA IDEALĂ (ROU 2024). Seamlessly arranged within a vibrant collage, a series of advertising films tells of life in post-socialist Romania and the transition from communism to a market-based economy. National pride collides with consumer culture in this unconventional work – a unique document of contemporary history.
The idea for Tamara Stepanyan’s cinematic essay film MY ARMENIAN PHANTOMS / MES FANTÔMES ARMÉNIENS (FRA, ARM, QAT 2025) was pitched at 2023’s East-West Talent Lab. The completed film already celebrated its world premiere at the Berlinale. Tamara Stepanyan interweaves memories of her late father, Armenian actor Vigen Stepanyan, with a reappraisal of Armenian cinema history. Her remembrances span from early TV evenings in the company of family to her own path as a director. Employing quotations from films of various eras, she tells the story of Armenian cinema – from censorship and exile to works of emancipation.
Maja Novaković’s enchanting documentary fairy-tale AT THE DOOR OF THE HOUSE WHO WILL COME KNOCKING / KO ĆE POKUCATI NA VRATA MOG DOMA (SRB, BIH 2024) is celebrating its German premiere in Wiesbaden. Emin lives in an isolated Bosnian village – his daily life is dominated by bitter cold and the haunting howl of the wind blowing across the snow-covered landscape. To make it through the harsh winter, the ageing man fells timber in the nearby forest, his horse his only confidante. The film tells of unspoken worry and a world practically lifted from the pages of a fairy tale, albeit one where people can never seem to find time for one another.
Marek Šulík’s polit-portrait MS. PRESIDENT / PREZIDENTKA (SVK, CZE 2024) constitutes a further German premiere in the Competition program. For five years, up until 2024, Zuzana Čaputová served as Slovakia’s first female head of state – a tenure marked by crises and pushback against the powerful populist currents centred around Robert Fico. Throughout this entire period, a film team was permitted to follow her at close range, even during situations that remained hidden from other cameras. A film about an impressive woman attempting to establish a humane, open approach in the traditionally male-dominated, competition-oriented world of senior political circles – while still showing up for her daughters.
Last but not least: from Georgia comes Elene Mikaberidze’s warm-hearted debut film BLUEBERRY DREAMS / LURJI MOTSVI (GEO, BEL, FRA, QAT 2024), which will be screened in the presence of the director, in co-operation with Amnesty International. A stone’s throw from the Abkhazian border, former engineer Soso and his wife and two sons are daring to make a fresh start. In spectacular panorama shots, the director captures the family’s growing existential angst – magnified by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and memories of the Caucasus War of 2008. Still, in spite of the adversity they face, the family members stick together, meeting the ups and downs of everyday life with great humour.
RhineMain Short Film Competition: Revenge of the Babushka
For the sixth time, goEast is proud to present the RhineMain Short Film Award, endowed with prize money in the amount of 2,500 euros. The competition, part of the Cinema Archipelago supporting program, is made possible with the generous support of Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain. This year’s call for works featured the theme “Revenge of the Babushka”. Over 400 short films were submitted – from those, goEast program co-ordinator Sophie Brakemeier has selected seven exceptional works.
The Eastern European “babushka” (or “baba”, “bunica”, “bebia” in other Eastern European languages) is far more than just a family member. In many fairy tales she is often the secret, true heroine of the story and possesses a sort of undeniable power that must be reckoned with. This year’s film selection for the RhineMain Short Film Competition places elderly ladies in the spotlight – their stories, their lives and their impact on their surroundings.
Chi-Yu Lin’s ALONE, TOGETHER / SAMOTA JIM NEVADÍ (CZE 2024) relates how backpacker Shu-Yu, travelling in Europe, meets Margita, a woman living alone in rural Czechia, who spontaneously invites Shu-Yu to her home. In spite of the language barrier, the two women begin to tell one other about their lives and develop a deep mutual interest. In Zuza Banasińska’s GRANDMAMAUNTSISTERCAT (POL, NLD 2024) a child recounts its own matriarchal lineage and raises questions about family and identity. Banasińska’s collage, composed of excerpts from communist educational and propaganda films, playfully reinterprets norms and images, transforming the ferocious mythological ogre Baba Yaga into a goddess of matriarchal prehistory. Martina Meštrović’s animated film HER DRESS FOR THE FINAL / HALJINA ZA FINALE (HRV 2023) foregoes dialogue completely. The last day begins like any other: the alarm clock rings, time to get ready, lipstick, hairbrush, moisturizer. Yet on the final day, the memories also prove overwhelming, memories of the things that one loved, and the hope that certain things will remain. So it is that the widow resolves to wear her wedding dress one last time. Erlisë Beqiri’s HOW LIFE USED TO BE / QISHTU U KANË JETA (KOS 2024) is set in the idyllic Kosovar countryside, where Fahrije, the director’s grandmother, lives a peaceful life. Her past was not always easy. However, surrounded by nature and the artefacts of her everyday life, she tells her story to the audience – and her granddaughter. Elena Murganova’s I CHOOSE TO GO (RUS 2025) follows 83-year-old Ludmila Vasilieva, who survived the siege of Leningrad in 1944, as she publicly condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine and runs for the office of governor of Saint Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, with little chance of succeeding. Loukia Hadjiyianni’s LUDMILA’S APPLE PIE (GEO 2024) depicts summer in rural Georgia. While baking apple pie, the director’s grandmother begins to talk – about life in the Soviet Union as a young woman, or her view of today’s Russia. It’s almost like sitting at the table with Ludmila in person and being invited to listen along to her stories. Finally, Katarzyna Gondek’s MILK / MLEKO (POL 2023) devotes itself to the topic of death from an unconventional angle. Mary was a good mother and a good wife. After her death, she wanders around as a ghost, naked. Who was she actually though? Her children wonder too.
Following Saturday’s screening, there will be a Q&A with the attending filmmakers.
Ticket Pre-Sales Begin
Advance tickets for film screenings as well as individual events will be available starting Thursday, 3. April – both online (see here) and at the advance ticketing box office in Wiesbaden’s central tourist information bureau. During the festival week, tickets can be acquired online, at all festival venues and in the new Festival Centre at Wiesbaden’s Altes Gericht. You can find more detailed information on where and how to purchase advance tickets here.
Accreditation
Members of the press can apply now for accreditation for the 25th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film here. During the festival period, accredited industry guests and members of the press also receive access to an online media library featuring an extensive selection of festival programming.
goEast Press Breakfast & Opening of 25×25 Exhibition
The Press Breakfast will take place in Frankfurt on Wednesday, 16 April, at 11:00 am in the DFF cinema at Schaumainkai 41. Hybrid participation will be possible. Following the Press Breakfast (at approximately 12:15), the photo and multimedia exhibition 25×25, which presents a look back at 25 years of festival history, will open in the DFF foyer, with special guest Dr. Susanne Völker of Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain in attendance. The exhibition will run through 15 May and be accessible during the DFF’s normal opening hours – admission is free of charge.
You can find images related to the festival in our download section.
The full program for the 25th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film will be revealed in early April.
goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film is 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, the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Germany and the solidarity initiative of the German Catholics with the people in Central and Eastern Europe Renovabis. Primary media partners include 3sat, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.