Ukrainian programme at the goEast Film Festival 

At the goEast Film Festival in Wiesbaden (Germany), a Ukrainian programme was presented, which included eight feature films and documentaries. The festival also hosted a panel discussion as part of the Decolonising the (Post-) Soviet Screen symposium. 

The Ukrainian Institute, in cooperation with the goEast festival, with the assistance of the Goethe Institute and Open Society Foundations, and together with the initiative of the cultural manager Ilia Gladshtein, organized the panel discussion “UKRAINEXPLOITATION”.  

The event, which took place on April 29, was devoted to the issue of filming during hostilities. In particular, the experts focused on the topic of foreign filmmakers and journalists filming in Ukraine during the war and their cooperation with Ukrainian colleagues. The discussion focused on the issue of the legal framework for fixers, who are mostly Ukrainian filmmakers, providing foreign colleagues with access to war zones, risking their own safety. 

They also discussed examples of initiatives that support the Ukrainian film industry, rather than exploiting it for their own purposes. After all, in order to prevent “war tourism” in the film industry, the principle should be: nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. 

The discussion was attended by: 

  • Illia Gladshtein, producer, distributor, cultural manager (Ukraine) 
  • Alisa Kovalenko, filmmaker (Ukraine) 
  • Rita Burkovska, actress and fixer (Ukraine) 
  • Miriam Carbe, ARTE (Germany / France)  

The discussion was moderated by Heleen Gerritsen, Head of Festival goEast. 

Ukrainian films were also shown at the festival, including: 

  • We Will Not Fade Away, dir. Alisa Kovalenko (Competition)  
  • La Palisiada, dir. Philip Sotnychenko (Competition)  
  • Fragile Memory, dir. Igor Ivanko (Bioscope)  
  • Conscience, dir. Volodymyr Denysenko (Symposium)  
  • Atlantis, dir. Valentyn Vasyanovych (Symposium)  
  • Oxygen Starvation, dir. Andriy Donchyk (Symposium)  
  • It’s a Date, dir. Nadia Parfan ( Anarcho Shorts)  
  • Khayt, dir. Sashko Protyah (Rheinmain short film)  

The goEast Festival of Central and Eastern European Film, founded in 2001, is organized and hosted by the German Film Institute. Every year the festival offers more than 130 films from Central and Eastern Europe. In 2023, the goEast Festival runs from April 26 to May 2.