Accreditations are currently not available. 

In Febrary/March 2027 the accreditation phase for our 27. Festival Edition will start. It will presumably take place at the end of April 2027 in Wiesbaden and other venues in the Rhein-Main region. 

We will give you more detailed information from the beginning of 2027. 

Some information concerning our accreditation process of the last edition can be found in our FAQ section. 

In 2026, goEast is once again supporting up-and-coming film professionals and emerging talents from Central and Eastern Europe and helping them to forge connections with like-minded peers from Germany. A multi-faceted educational program has been created again for the East-West Talent Lab, one which offers participants the opportunity to interact with industry representatives from television broadcasting and funding institutions and the chance to present their project ideas and develop potential partnerships for co-productions. 

Among other items, the program encompasses pitching training and one-on-one mentoring sessions with filmmaker Cathy de Haan and industry and documentary film expert Brigid O’Shea. Curator and film expert Nikolai Niktin will share effective strategies for choosing the right film festivals and jury member Veronika Janatková will present a lecture about filming in countries where the state controls the cameras, the legal system and the definition of reality itself. Finally, Portrait guest Ada Solomon will present a case study on financing and distributing a co-production. 

PROJECT MARKET PITCH 

The twelve participants in the East-West Talent Lab present their project ideas with a focus on non-fiction and documentary formats to a three-member expert jury in front of a live audience. The young talents come from Central and Eastern Europe. Each pitch is limited to a maximum of seven minutes, to be immediately followed by direct feedback and questions from the expert jury, which consists this year of members Bettina Brokemper, Veronika Janatková and Aliaksei Paluyan.  

The most convincing pitches have the chance to win a Renovabis Research Grant (endowed with 3,500 euros), for a documentary film project with a focus on human rights, and the Pitch-the-Doc Award, which features a non-cash educational prize package valued at 500 euros. The award winners will be revealed by the jury in the scope of the annual goEast Award Ceremony. 

The Project Market Pitch, in which the nominated projects are presented is public and takes place on Monday, April 27 in the Heimathafen in the Altes Gericht at 10:00 am. 

East West Talent Lab 2027

Every year, our East West Talent Lab programme for emerging talent seeks twelve documentary film projects in development from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as up to eight producers who may apply without a project.

The East-West Talent Lab focuses on non-fiction and documentary formats. With the help of experienced mentors, the projects are further developed and prepared for a public pitch. The programme also features panel discussions, networking events and a masterclass.

The Call for Submission for 2027 will be published in January.

*Eligible countries for applications with and without a project are Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. 

** A further eligible country for applications without a project (this applies only to producers) is Germany.