Croatian films at 20th goEast
Competition programmes of the 20th goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film will feature Vinko Brešan’s feature-length What a Country! and Sara Jurinčić’s experimental short September 3, 2015. Nenad Puhovski’s documentary Graham and I – A True Story has been selected for the “Symposium” programme, while Sara Jurinčić and Karla Lulić, who presented their new projects in the East-West Talent Lab industry programme, have been nominated for the goEast Development Award. The festival is held in German Wiesbaden throughout the year.
Vinko Brešan's feature What a Country! is one of 16 titles included in the feature film Competition, all of which will screen on the big screen, thanks to a partnership with festival exground filmfest, held in November 2020. What a Country! premiered at the 2019 Pula Film Festival, where it won two Golden Arenas (Krešimir Mikić for Best Actor and Mate Matišić for Best Screenplay).
Sara Jurinčić’s experimental short September 3, 2015 is competing for the RheinMain Short Film Award, together with seven other titles from Central and Eastern Europe. The film will have its German cinema premiere on 30th June, followed by exhibition in cinemas across Germany. It was created as part of Restart’s School of Documentary Film.
The “Symposium” programme will feature Nenad Puhovski’s documentary Graham and I – A True Story, while the films in the programme will be presented in Wiesbaden throughout July.
In addition, goEast industry programme includes the East-West Talent Lab, dedicated to young filmmakers participating in workshops and developing and presenting their new projects before an international panel and other film professionals. This year’s East-West Talend Lab was held in May in digital format, with Sara Jurinčić presenting her latest project Valeria and Karla Lulić presenting Split Ends. These latest projects by Croatian female directors are among the 15 projects nominated for the goEast Development Award. A list of all nominated projects can be found on the following link.
This year's anniversary 20th edition of goEast was partly held online, 5th – 11th May. During that time, the festival included programmes for film professionals, while the films in competition will be screened in cinemas in Wiesbaden and across Germany for the remainder of the year. This year, the organizers have decided to split the money prize normally awarded to winners of competition programmes evenly among all the films in competition.
goEast is dedicated to bringing the richness and diversity of Central and Eastern European film to audiences in western Europe. For more information about the festival, visit the official goEast website.
Cover photographs: goEast 2020 visuals; scenes from What a Country! and September 3, 2015.