02/05/2024 - Kumjana Novakova’s forensic video essay has come out on top in Wiesbaden, while all three of the other major prizes went to prominent Eastern European female directors

l-r: Ellen Harrington (DFF director), Heleen Gerritsen (goEast artistic director), Nicoletta Romeo (jury chair), Jiří Konečný (jury member), Kumjana Novakova (Golden Lily winner), and Ilinca Manolache, Hamze Bytyçi and Maciek Hamela (jury members) (© Roman Polanski)

The 24th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film came to a festive conclusion on Tuesday evening with a traditionally elegant awards ceremony at the Caligari Film Theatre in Wiesbaden. After a week that featured screenings of 90 films and welcomed more than 200 guests from the international film industry, the winning movies in the Competition, the East-West Talent Lab and the RheinMain Short Film Competition were finally announced.

The international jury, chaired by Trieste Film Festival artistic director Nicoletta Romeo, gave the main prize, endowed with €10,000, to the forensic video essay on the subject of rape as a weapon of war Silence of Reason [+see also:
film review
film profile], for its “original and radical form” and for “managing to break the silence and taboos, thus becoming a milestone for everlasting memory”. Ukrainian director Maryna Vroda won the Award of the City of Wiesbaden for Best Director (endowed with €7,500) with her debut film, Stepne [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], for portraying “the life of a disappearing, melancholic universe, along with its pain and lost hopes, with tenderness, authenticity and a mature gaze”. The Special Mention went to the Armenian intimate family documentary 1489 [+see also:
film review
interview: Shoghakat Vardanyan
film profile] by another debutante, Shoghakat Vardanyan, while the jury praised the work for being “an incredibly courageous and intimate account of the pain inflicted by the Nagorno-Karabakh War on an Armenian family”.

Olga Chernykh impressed the jury members with her essayistic account of a family's long journey through the war in Ukraine, A Picture to Remember [+see also:
film review
film profile], and was given the CEEOL Prize for Best Documentary Film. Besides an Honourable Mention from the international jury, the Hungarian coming-of-age documentary KIX [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Dávid Mikulán and Bálint Révész received the FIPRESCI International Film Critics' Award in the documentary category, while the victor in the fiction-feature category turned out to be Dmitrii Davydov’s Plague, taking place in the Republic of Sakha, in the very northern part of Russia. In addition, the Kazakhstani feature debut Bauryna Salu [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Askhat Kuchinchirekov was selected by goEast media partner 3sat and will receive an acquisition offer from the broadcaster, consisting of a television premiere during the goEast Festival in 2025.

The RheinMain Short Film Award, supported by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain and endowed with €2,500, went to the Czech film Qirim by Kateryna Khramtsova. Meanwhile, the jury of the Project Market Pitch, which forms part of the East-West Talent Lab, decided to grant a Special Mention to the film project Sacred Songs by Georgian producer Mariam Bitsadze, while producer Irina Gelashvilli was awarded the Renovabis Research Grant for The Amateur Photographer's Family Portrait, again from Georgia. Finally, Azerbaijani director Atanur Nabiyeva convinced the jury with her project idea Echoes of Avey and consequently won the Pitch the Doc Award.

Here is the full list of prize winners:

Golden Lily for Best Film
Silence of Reason [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Kumjana Novakova (Bosnia and Herzegovina/North Macedonia)

Award of the City of Wiesbaden for Best Director
Maryna Vroda – Stepne [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Ukraine/Germany/Poland/Slovakia)

Special Mention of the International Jury
1489 [+see also:
film review
interview: Shoghakat Vardanyan
film profile] – Shoghakat Vardanyan (Armenia)

CEEOL Award for Best Documentary Film
A Picture to Remember [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Olga Chernykh (Ukraine/France/Germany)

FIPRESCI Award for Fiction Feature
Plague - Dmitrii Davydov (Russia)

FIPRESCI Award for Documentary Film
KIX [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Dávid Mikulán, Bálint Révész (Hungary)

RheinMain Short Film Award
Qirim – Kateryna Khramtsova (Czech Republic)

Special Mention at the Project Market Pitch (East-West Talent Lab)
Sacred Songs - Mariam Bitsadze (Georgia)

Renovabis Research Grant
The Amateur Photographer's Family Portrait – Irina Gelashvili (Georgia)

Pitch-the-Doc Award
Echoes of Avey – Atanur Nabiyeva (Azerbaijan)

3sat broadcasting deal
Bauryna Salu [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Askhat Kuchinchirekov (Kazakhstan)