GoEast, styled goEast, is an international film festival which has been held annually in the Hessian state capital of Wiesbaden, Germany, since its inception in 2001. The festival is primarily for films with an Eastern European background, and is held by the Deutsches Filminstitut (German Film Institute) for one week every April.

The goEast film festival, launched in 2001, was founded by Claudia Dillmann, the Director of the German Film Institute – DIF. Likewise involved in developing the original festival concept was Swetlana Sikora, who has remained the festival's Artist Director until 2010. "The time has come to open ourselves to the thoughts, images, myths and stories of our Eastern neighbours. To their culture. To their films.", wrote Claudia Dillmann in her foreword to the first festival catalogue.^{[citation needed]}

From the beginning, the state capital Wiesbaden and the state government of Hesse has given substantial support to the festival, as it made its home in the Caligari cinemas. Hilmar Hoffmann became patron of the festival.^{[citation needed]}

In late summer 2010 Gaby Babic took over the post of Festival Director, and for the first time a combined role as Artistic Director as well. After Claudia Dillmann, Christine Kopf and Nadja Rademacher she is the fourth front woman of goEast.^{[citation needed]}

The 2021 festival took place in April, mainly online, as well as in the cities of Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Giessen.

Directors and stars who have been guests at the festival includes Krzysztof Zanussi, Jiří Menzel, István Szabó, Hanna Schygulla, Béla Tarr, Jerzy Stuhr, Kira Muratova, Otar Iosseliani, Maria Schrader, Joachim Król, Sergei Loznitsa, Bohdan Sláma, Cristi Puiu and many more.^{[citation needed]}

Ten feature films and six documentaries are nominated for the goEast Competition. Eligibility is restricted to productions completed within the past two years in the applicable countries; in addition, since 2008 documentaries made in Germany or Israel may be nominated if they possess clear thematic relevance to Central and Eastern Europe.^{[citation needed]}

The annual goeast symposiUm invites (film) scholars, historians and specialists to examine socially relevant topics within the context of historical artistic developments. This section is built around interdisciplinary debate encompassing a range of aesthetic and theoretical perspectives, and is accompanied by a separately curated series of films. All lectures, discussions and screenings are open to the general public.^{[citation needed]}