PRESS RELEASE No. 3

Frankfurt/Wiesbaden, March 21st, 2003

Bridges to the East

Eastern European filmmakers discover Wiesbaden: Annually more submissions for goEast

Next Wednesday, March 26th, it is time: goEast, the festival of Central and Eastern European film, will be held for the third time in Wiesbaden. Apart from around 90 invited guests, 300 specialist guests (journalists, directors, distributors, producers, politicians, archive heads) from East and West have announced their coming. Approximately 5.000 visitors from the region are being expected when the German Film Institute – DIF in Wiesbaden again opens a window to the East for one week. In the sections contest, student’s film contest, symposium, and retrospective, a total of 107 feature and short films from Central and Eastern Europe will be presented, among them 16 topical international and German premieres as well as a world premiere. Main sponsors of the festival, which will be attended by film artists, cineastes and journalists from East and West, are the state capital Wiesbaden and hessen-media, an initiative of the Hessian economics ministry, both equally donating 100.000 Euro.

In the Contest, nine feature films and six documentaries compete for the following awards: The main award „The Golden Lily“ for best film, endowed with 10.000 Euros and the award of the city of Wiesbaden for best direction, endowed with 7.500 Euros. Furthermore, as part of their commitment to European Integration the Hertie-Foundation sponsors the documentary award, which is endowed with 10.000 Euros. The winners are selected by an international jury whose members are Czech director and Oscar winner Jiří Menzel (chairman), Romanian director Nae Caranfil (winner of the jury award at goEast 2002), Bulgarian producer Rossitsa Valkanova, Maciej Karpinski (head of the department of international relations at the Polish TV and director of the film festival Gdynia), as well as Kurt Kupferschmidt, Managing Director of the distribution and production company Salzgeber & Co. Medien GmbH, Berlin. This year, a sum of 127 films were submitted for the contest, last there were 56 submissions only – Eastern European film makers have discovered goEast.

For the first time, a jury sent by the International Federation of Film Critics will present the renowned „FIPRESCI-Award“ this year. Film critics György Báron from Hungary, Bojidar Manov from Bulgaria (Vice-President of the FIPRESCI), and Marcus Stiglegger from Germany present the desirable FIPRESCI-Award to one of the contest films.

The festival attaches importance to linking the view at the current film production in the Central and Eastern European countries with the view at the past and the future, therefore again presenting new talents from East and West. In the Student’s Films Programme, students from the film colleges in Slovenian Ljubljana, Hungarian Budapest, as well as Berlin, Cologne, Kassel, Mainz, and Offenbach, present their works. In three short film programmes, tomorrow’s directors show their documentaries and experimental films, their short- and animation films, in the international comparison. The audience decides who will win the awards (750 Euros in each of the categories). Following the final student’s film programme and the award ceremony (Saturday, March 29th, from 10pm) there will be a party in the „Caligari“.

In the year of the German-Russian cultural encounters (2003/2004), the scientific Symposium, another tried and tested emphasis of the festival, takes a look at the relations between these two countries. An extensive programme with films mainly from the 30ies and 40ies, among them many discoveries from the Russian Gosfilmofond-archive, provides food for discussion about prejudices as well as positive and negative clichés. Under the chairmanship of Berlin film historian Hans-Joachim Schlegel, experts from Moscow, Riga, Vilnius, Gernsbach, and Berlin present the changeable „Images of the German in Soviet and post-Soviet cinema“. In the context of the respective historic, political, and cultural circumstances, the basis and effect of this iconography shall be traced. The symposium which takes place from March 31st until April 2nd in the conference room of the Wiesbaden city hall, is being sponsored by the Allianz Culture-Foundation and the Foreign Office in Berlin. The lectures are open for everyone who is interested in this topic, the participation is free of charge. Fresh from the press, we also have available the publication about last year’s symposium „Subversions of the surreal in Central and Eastern European Film“. This volume of high quality contents and design (256 pages and 78 illustrations) does not only cover the symposium’s lectures, but also transcripts of the discussions, contemporary documents, manifestos, and filmographies.

The following specials in the programme also deserve special attention:

The festival dedicates the Retrospective 2003 to the Russian dramatist Anton Čechov, showing 12 film adaptions of his works, for example by Louis Malle, Andrzej Wajda, Nikita Michalkov, and Laurence Olivier. Adaptions from totally different countries (USSR/Russia, USA, Poland, Italy, France, Great Britain, and Germany), from a silent movie from 1911 to a modern version of „Uncle Vanja“ from the 90ies, prove that Čechov’s subject matters not only repeatedly fascinate and inspire theatre directors, but that they are also very present in the cinema. Kira Muratova’s contest entry ČECHOV- MOTIFS, is another signal that his „painful basic pattern of existence“ (Natalia Ginzburg) is currently very topical. goEast is especially happy to be able to welcome a descendant of the famous writer and dramatist on Sunday, March 30th: Vera Tschechowa. Film critic Daniel Kothenschulte hosts the Matineé with the famous actress and director, beginning at 11 am in the Caligari FilmBühne. Following this, BLACK EYES (D: Nikita Michalkov, Italy 1987), a film adaption of the story „The lady with the puppy-dog“ starring Marcello Mastroianni in the leading role, is being shown. An Exhibition in the Wiesbaden Museum (28.03.-11.05.2003), organized by the festival and administered by Berlin theatre- and film scientist Renata Helker, deals with the “Tschechov-Clan“. Photographs, letters, and documents from the extensive private Knipper/Tschechowa archive present the story of the German-Russian family of artists, with an emphasis on protagonists Anton Čechov and film star Olga Tschechowa. In a Scenic Reading on Saturday, March 29th, at 2 pm in the Caligari FilmBühne, Iris Atzwanger and Ulrich Cyran – both actors at the Hessian State Theatre - recite excerpts from the correspondence between Anton Čechov and Olga Knipper. The correspondence not only gives insight into the longing love affair of the couple, who had to spend a lot of time apart from each other, but also into Knipper’s work at the Moscow Artist’s Theatre and the sources from which Čechov drew materials for his theatre plays. Nicola Brakamp has conceived the event during which there will also be video screenings. Afterwards, the film UNVOLLENDETE PARTITUR FÜR EIN MECHANISCHES KLAVIER / UNFINISHED SCORE FOR A MECHANICAL PIANO (USSR 1977, D: Nikita Michalkov) will be shown.

The co-operation with the editorial office of „Das kleine Fernsehspiel/The little TV play“ enables the screening of films from this ZDF series, which right from its start attached importance to artistic quality and developed a tight connection to Eastern Europe. The four films selected for goEast mirror the historical changes after 1989: GAGARIN, ICH HABE DICH GELIEBT (Ukraine 1992), BOLSCHE VITA (Hungary 1995), MÜDE WEGGEFÄHRTEN (Germany 1996), and DIE RÜCKKEHR DES IDIOTEN (Czech Republic 1999). Hans Kutnewsky, former editor at the „kleine Fernsehspiel“, introduces the programme and the individual films.

In the Highlights-section, we would especially like to draw attention to the film FLASHBACK. Renowned documentary filmmaker Herz Frank presents this deeply personal film essay which takes the audience on a trip through his past, in person on Monday, March 31st, at 3:30 pm in the Caligari. Following the film, there will be the opportunity for discussion. Special attention should also be paid to the film RUSSISCHE ARCHE by director Aleksandr Sokurov, who has just been awarded the „Andrzej Wajda / Philipp Morris Freedom“-Price for his work (March 30th, 10 pm, Caligari FilmBühne). The film is shown at goEast as the German preview.

In view of the occasion, goEast invites you to the Villa Clementine on Saturday, March 29st, at 4 pm, for a Panel Discussion. Under the heading „Pull test for Europe? Identity in the face of the Iraq conflict“, goEast provides a forum for the international festival guests to discuss the current attitude of the governments in the individual countries as well as the mood in the population and the media, and to express their personal standpoint concerning the Iraq war. While US Minister of Defence Donald Rumsfeld talks about a „new“ and an „old“ Europe for strategic reasons, trying to split off the West from the East, in reality there are rifts in Eastern Europe as well – each country has its own reasons and motifs for its position. Foreign policy tactics do not necessarily match the population’s opinion. While the people in Germany, England, France, and Italy are protesting in the streets, little is heard here about demonstrations in Central and Eastern Europe. It is an important goal of goEast to enable intense encounters and dialogue between East and West, and to offer a forum to get to know each other better – a critical prerequisite for a united Europe.

The festival’s Final Film, ERSATZTEILE / SPARE PARTS (D: Damjan Kozole, Slovenia, 2002) was the only Eastern European contest entry at the International Filmfestspiele in Berlin. It shows the situation of illegal refugees from the countries of the former Soviet Union.

The festival Catalogue consists of 120 pages filled with extensive synopses of all films, biographies and filmographies of the directors, numerous photographs, as well as introductions to the several sections. It is bilingual in German and English. It is available for 6 Euros at the ticket counters in the cinemas and in the festival centre. For more information, please visit us at www.filmfestival- goEast.de.

In the festival centre in the Villa Clementine, we provide eight video screens for previewing purposes to journalists and specialist guests. All contest films can be watched here, as well as the majority of the submitted films, the films from the Highlights-section and the ones from the student film contest. Most of the films from the retrospective and the symposium are also available as VHS tapes. The users are able to gather a good overview of the current film work in Central and Eastern Europe.

There is the opportunity for interviews with the attending directors, jury members, and guests. Please arrange this in advance with the press office. The complete Press Materials and film stills can be downloaded from www.filmfestival-goEast.de, but are also available on the spot.

Press contact: Maren Dey, Alexandra Walther Luna Park 64 Medien Konzepte Projekte GmbH Niddastr. 64 60329 Frankfurt am Main Telephone: 069 / 25 66 97 31 Fax: 069 / 25 66 97 39 [email protected]

Organization: Deutsches Filminstitut – DIF Schaumainkai 41 60596 Frankfurt Tel: 069. 66 37 29 46 / Fax: 069. 66 37 29 47 E-mail: [email protected] / Internet: www.filmfestival-goeast.de