In the 25th anniversary year, goEast continued its extensive sidebar program Cinema Archipelago. The program, subtitled “Back to the Future” in 2025, was once again supported by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain. For four years, the program has been a “playground” for experiments and underrepresented art forms and artists at goEast. This made this year’s symposium OMAS, BABAS, BABUSHKAS – GENDER AND AGEING IN EUROPEAN CINEMA all the more fitting. Among other things, it examined the representation of ageing women in front of and behind the camera in Central and Eastern European cinema.  

The Homage was also part of the sidebar program. The pioneers of indigenous film in the Arctic, Anastasia Lapsui and Markku Lehmuskallio, were honored in this context. In addition to the nine films that were shown, the audience was be able to watch a workshop discussion with the two filmmakers that was recorded in Finland. 

This year’s Cinema Archipelago was framed by the anniversary program Meet the East: with new and old films, special guests and the 25X25 exhibition, which showed 25 formative personalities of the Central and Eastern European film landscape in the foyer of the DFF in Frankfurt. 

Finally, the Cinema Archipelago program was rounded off by the RhineMain Short Film Award, which was held under the motto REVENGE OF THE BABUSHKA to coincide with the Symposium. This program put a spotlight on the stories, the life and the influence of the Babushka character. The program will be on tour in the Rhine-Main-region in autumn.

 

CINEMA
archipelago 2025

In collaboration with the AGE-C research project, the interdisciplinary symposium examines representations of female ageing in (Eastern) European cinema. Researchers from the fields of gerontology, nursing and film studies as well as representatives of the film industry will discuss these topics in lectures and panels. The accompanying film series consists of modern classics from Central and Eastern European cinema.

 

SYMPOSIUM

In many fairy tales, the Eastern European “Babushka” is the hidden heroine – a force to be reckoned with. This year’s film selection of the RhineMain Short Film Competition puts the Babushkas in the spotlight – their stories, their lives and their influence on their environment. 

RHINEMAIN SHORT FILM AWARD

Hardly any other filmography is as intensively dedicated to the life of the indigenous people in the Arctic tundra and the colonial history of Siberia as that of Anastasia Lapsui (1944) and Markku Lehmuskallio (1938). goEast presents a retrospective consisting of seven feature-length films and a double feature with two medium-length works.

HOMAGE

With Meet the East, goEast celebrates 25 years of festival history – with a diverse program of films such as KILL ME SOFTLY and THE ECLIPSE, talks with Margarethe von Trotta and the Ukrainian film teams of TIMESTAMP and U R THE UNIVERSE, as well as an photo exhibition in Frankfurt.   

MEET THE EAST

This year’s Cinema Archipelago will be framed by the anniversary program Meet the East, including the 25X25 exhibition, which will show 25 formative personalities of the Central and Eastern European film landscape in the foyer of the DFF in Frankfurt. 

25x25