The 26th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film has unveiled its jury lineups, thematic focus and first award news ahead of its 21 to 27 April return to Wiesbaden, where the event will screen 76 films from 40 countries across more than 100 events.
Heading the international Competition Jury is Georgian filmmaker and screenwriter Salomé Alexi, whose career spans directing, producing and film culture advocacy. A La Fémis graduate, Alexi broke through with the Venice prizewinning short Felicita, while her feature debut Line of Credit premiered in Venice’s Orizzonti section. Her latest work, Nutsa and Lana Gogoberidze, or the Darkness Is Never Complete, premiered in the Berlinale’s Forum Special.
She is joined by Latvian producer and director Gints Grūbe, co-founder of Mistrus Media and a producer on titles including The Chronicles of Melanie, The Mover, My Father the Spy, Samuel’s Travels, January and Maria’s Silence. The five-member jury also includes CinEast Film Festival director and EEFFN co-founder Radek Lipka, Czech filmmaker Klára Tasovská, whose I’m Not Everything I Want to Be premiered in the Berlinale Panorama, and actor and filmmaker Eszter Tompa, recently seen in Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25.
The festival’s FIPRESCI jury comprises Silvia Bahl, Mariola Wiktor and Stojan Sinadinov, while the East-West Talent Lab jury will include Heimatfilm founder Bettina Brokemper, Prague-based producer-curator Veronika Janatková and Belarusian-German filmmaker Aliaksei Paluyan, whose documentary debut Courage played the Berlinale, IDFA, CPH:DOX, Hot Docs and Sheffield. The RheinMain Short Film Award jury features Marie-Hélène Gutberlet, Dascha Petuchow and Pavel Schnabel.
A major political thread this year is the Focus on Georgia sidebar, «Prisoners of Conscience», which responds to intensifying repression in the country following the disputed 2024 parliamentary elections. The programme includes a panel on 24 April with Alexi, political scientist Gaga Gogoladze and doctor and human rights witness Reinhard Kaul-Seeger, alongside an ongoing short film project portraying individuals imprisoned for political reasons.
Before the festival has even opened, one prize has already been awarded. The 2026 EEFFN Award goes to Alexandra Makarová’s Slovak family drama Perla, set in 1980s Vienna and centered on a Slovak artist whose fragile stability is disrupted by the return of her past.
New festival director Rebecca Heiler said goEast will be the first festival to take place in the renovated Caligari FilmBühne. Around 120 guests from the Central and Eastern European film industry are expected in Wiesbaden, where the festival will again combine screenings, Q&As, industry exchange and late-night Clubhouse events.
