GOEAST DISTINGUISHES

A pocket-sized survival artist getting by on his own in the Kazakh steppe; a young Polish novice who learns that her parents were killed in the Holocaust; a confirmed bachelor who finds love by chance, only to see it slip out of his grasp – the ten feature films competing at goEast 2014 centre on people who go through painful experiences. But these figures refuse to give up, in some cases even grow stronger in the face of adversity. The six competing documentary films present the viewers with a diverse spectrum of human destinies, some deeply shocking, others inspiring hope and optimism . The complex subject-matter includes arbitrary despotism on the part of the authorities in the North Caucasus, or resentments harboured against Roma and Sinti in Hungary. Screening out of competition, the omnibus film UKRAINE_VOICES comprises eight topical shorts reflecting the current highly charged situation.
The goEast Competition brings great names like Corneliu Porumboiu or Marcel Loziński together with those of upcoming young directors like Marko Šantić or the HFF Potsdam graduate Natalia Mikhaylova. Filmmakers are competing for four prizes awarded by an international jury: the ŠKODA Film Award (10,000 euros); the Award of the City of Wiesbaden for Best Director (7,500 euros), the Award of the Federal Foreign Office (4,000 euros) for “artistic originality which creates cultural diversity”; the “Remembrance and Future” Documentary Award (10,000 euros) of the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”, which is bestowed on a documentary film in recognition of critical, constructive social analysis that also points to potential perspectives. A jury dispatched by FIPRESCI presents the International Critics’ Award.