East European Forum

Die globale Stadt , Austria, 90 min, 35 mm, Social issues

We follow a successful businessman as he buys land, negotiates with politicians, commissions extensive market surveys and meets with his associates at a major real estate exhibition. He collects art, lives in a luxurious lakeside villa and is part of an industry that builds shopping centres around the world, generating huge profits. Nevertheless, this pursuit of profit has its consequences. Not only does The Global Town follow the businessman as he goes about his dealings, it also shows how what he does dramatically changes our living environment. The film takes us to several European town centres that are gradually falling into decline as the local retail trade dies out because of the stiff competition from nearby shopping centres. It is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between different suburbs, with shopping mall upon shopping mall, car park after car park and advertising hoardings as far as the eye can see.

Kullaketrajad , Estonia, 80 min, Digi Beta, HD, Archive , Creative, Entertainment, History, Society

The Gold Spinners tells the story of the birth, glory and downfall of a peculiar, invisible and mighty business empire. It’s a story of the film studio Eesti Reklaamfilm – the only enterprise producing commercials in the Soviet Union. It might have been born in the head of one man, but during its heyday the studio provided employment for hundreds of people and its clips won over millions. And all this in the ‘socialist empire‘, under the conditions of planned economy and universal lack of everything. With no actual goods to advertise, marketing rules did not apply and even the word advertisement sounded almost as horrible as ‘the CIA‘, ‘the saxophone‘ or ‘Coca-Cola‘ to the thousands of concerned officials.

Nie dla umralych , Israel, Poland, USA, 90 min, Beta SP, Digi Beta, Current affairs, Drama doc, History, Human Rights, Portrait, Religion, Society

In June 2010, Bogdan Białek received an award for his 20-year long journey in Kielce, Poland, to rekindle the Polish/Jewish connection. Kielce was the site of Europe's last Jewish pogrom. It happened in 1946 and it was the defining event in the final flight of Jews from Poland to Palestine and the United States. Białek, in what he hopes will be his final act in this journey, restores the Jewish cemetery in Kielce. He is in a frenzy of activity, organizing the annual March of Memory and Prayer to the cemetery where a new commemorative stone is to be installed. Poles and Jewish guests from Israel, the US and Europe will take part in the event. Białek is campaigning to get the local and national media to show up. All of this activity takes place in the context of a hastily organized presidential election occasioned by the tragic plane crash of two months before. The media focus is on the election, not on Kielce. The stress of this "last job" rings out of him all of the conflicted feelings and burdens he has carried for twenty years.

Rómovia idú do volieb , Slovak Republic, 80 min, 35 mm, DVD, Creative, Current affairs

The story of Vlado Sendrei represents a modern destiny of a Slovak Roma in the 21st century. From a street fighter, an xth person in the line for social benefits, he has gradually become a hyperactive activist in social programs, culture and soccer. Today he is an unofficial ‘vajda‘ (leader), the authority not only in his community but also an election candidate in his native town of Kokava nad Rimavicou. Mapping the course of the election itself constitutes the first storyline. The second, a more personal storyline shows Vlado as a man torn between his urge to help others and his inability to maintain a functional family life.

Dobré mravy , Czech Republic, 80 min, HD, Current affairs, Social issues, Society

Good Manners is a cinematic essay about decency. Everyday banal situations that bring to light those dark places in us that unveil the thin border separating the normal from the abnormal and the forces causing the failure of the multicultural social model. Janov, a neighbourhood of the Czech town of Litvínov, gained notoriety last year after a violent clash between nationalist extremists and local Roma inhabitants. The conflict was profusely medialized, inspiring several television reports. The focus of our attention, however, is neither the open conflict, nor the dramatic encounters between the two sides. We are not interested in extremist speeches and clashes but in the platitudes of everyday life. We want to see how the residents of Janov live and how they perceive themselves, what they consider standard and how they define for themselves the concept of decency.

Family Business , Germany, 90 min, 35 mm, Social issues

The film shows the life of two families, brought together by an emergency. In a German family, grandma becomes a nursing case. Somewhere in Eastern Europe, a mother leaves her family in order to help the German. A film about the economies of families in the Western and Eastern parts of Europe. Carefully, from both sides, the film delves into the subtle texture of everyday drama, brought on by the situation: the daughter‘s irritated look to her mother, who allows herself to be stroked by the foreign woman; the helpless anger over a bland Polish meal because the ingredients are missing; the unintentional comedy of co-existence with two different languages. It is a trade, but no easy trade. Money and feelings cannot be swapped unopposed. While the German family ‘imports‘ a missing family member and regains some balance, the Polish family loses its centre: the mother.

Dzimis Rīgā , Latvia, 75 min, HD, Art and Culture, History

Escaping Riga is a cinematic journey, a docu-fiction trying to find answers to the question how the history of the 20th century has influenced people from the same place to lose their childhood illusions of comfort and become totally disillusioned. The main characters of the film are two world-class 20th century geniuses, the British philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin and the Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein who were born in the city of Riga around a hundred years ago. Blending small everyday episodes of the lives of the two personalities and narrated by the director, the film is a personal interpretation of their life stories in the time period from their first meeting at the beginning of the 20th century to their second and last meeting after two world wars in 1945.

A Lifetime Is Not Enough , Poland, 90 min, 35 mm, Art and Culture, Portrait

The protagonists are three film studios: in Russia (Mosfilm), in Poland (WFF nr1) and in Belarus (Belarusfilm) and three film directors: Vyrypayev, Żuławski and Kudinenko who currently work there. These were the three most important film studios in the former Eastern bloc. They were the birthplace for a generation raised in a controlled distribution of culture, socialist economy and permanent oppression. One day, the system collapsed and so did the studios. Twenty years later, the three film studios and countries represent three different worlds: from Lukashenko’s communist museum through post-economic crisis in Mosfilm to Poland planning in 2010 to put an end to the last so-called ‘film institutions‘. A new generation of filmmakers enters the old studios. Xawery Żuławski, Andriej Kudinenko and Ivan Vyrypayev are among the most talented directors of their generation. They share the same passion but face very different realities.

Dust Dream , Germany, Poland, United Kingdom, 60 min, Digi Beta, Adventure and Sport

Charismatic coach Jagdish Singh and his boxing protégées have garnered success and awards, including the first Olympic medal for India, placing the dusty Indian city of Bhiwani firmly on the international sporting map. Yet controversial training methods remain under scrutiny by suspicious sports authorities with Coach Jagdish excluded from key champion fights. Dust Dream charts Jagdish’s fight for official recognition alongside the personal journey of three of his students – including one of the first female Indian recruits – as they dedicate their lives to the demanding regime of the Bhiwani Boxing Club and the promise of a better future. As Jagdish Singh prepares his boxers to compete at London 2012, he is simultaneously fighting for the recognition of his own name and that of his boxing club.