In this episode, the three co-hosts discuss key takeaways from the Munich Security Conference and a historic meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. They also touch on the anniversary of Alexei Navalny’s death, Serbia’s Statehood Day, developments in Georgia, and promising news from North Macedonia.

Later, Nina speaks with Konstanty Kuzma and Moritz Pfeifer, the founders and editors of the East European Film Bulletin. They discuss the historical evolution of cinema in Eastern Europe, the current state of the region’s film industry, and where listeners can watch films from Eastern Europe today.

In the bonus content, Konstanty and Moritz shed light on major changes in the film industry following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Listen to the bonus content here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-211-122769663

Check out the East European Film Bulletin: https://eefb.org/

Films and Festivals mentioned in the interview:

Significant films from the region:

Man with a Movie Camera – Dziga Vertov

Daisies – Věra Chytilová

Directors to revisit:
Harutyun Khachatryan, Kira Muratova, Wojciech Wiszniewski

Films to watch for in 2025:

Waves – Jiří Mádl (CZ, SK)

Flow – Gints Zilbalodis (LV, BE, FR)

Kontinental '25 – Radu Jude (RO, HU, DE)

Człowiek do Wszystkiego – Anna and Wilhelm Sasnal (PL)

Jupiter – Andrey Zvyagintsev (RU, FR, ES)

Silent Friend – Ildikó Enyedi (HU, FR, DE, HK)

Spetsialna Operatsiia – Oleksiy Radinsky (UA, LT)

Film festivals in the region:

Golden Apricot International Film Festival – Yerevan, Armenia

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival – Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

Sarajevo Film Festival – Bosnia and Herzegovina

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival – Estonia

25fps Zagreb – Croatia (focusing on experimental films and arts)

Specialized film festivals focusing on Eastern European cinema:

GoEast Film Festival –Wiesbaden, Germany

BEAST International Film Festival – Porto, Portugal

Eastern Neighbours Film Festival – The Hague, Netherlands

À l’Est Film Festival – Rouen, France

CinEast Film Festival – Luxembourg

South East European Film Festival – Los Angeles, USA

At the start of this episode, Adam, Nina, and Alexandra discuss developments in the Georgian opposition, the shifting US stance on Ukraine, cultural anecdotes from Russia, the resignation of the Romanian president and the Baltics' energy decoupling. For the main interview, Alexandra is joined by James Kerr-Lindsay, a leading author and expert in international relations, conflict and security to discuss the case of Kosovo, which declared its independence on February 17th 2008. They talk about what happened in the lead up to Kosovo's declaration of independence and what makes Kosovo a unique case under international law. You can watch more of James's content on his Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEszqJb1FjYisBevHBIof3g

Get access to additional content - become a TEE patron: www.patreon.com/talkeasterneurope

Additional financing for this podcast is provided by the Polish MFA: Public task financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland within the grant competition “Public Diplomacy 2024 – 2025 - the European dimension and countering disinformation The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the official positions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.

In this episode, Adam and Alexandra start out by taking a look at the latest developments in the region, including the protests in Serbia, the impact of USAID funding cuts in the region, including in Ukraine, as well as a new energy deal between the European Commission and Moldova. Later, Adam is joined by Nurlan Aliyev, an expert on security issues, a lecturer in the University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw and author of the recently released book: Reassessing Russia's Security Policy published by Routledge.

More on the book: https://bit.ly/42NbG06

Watch the conversation with Nurlan Aliyev on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KTJzbfhxkzA

Don’t forget to check out our Exclusive TEE Bonus Content on the protests in Serbia: https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-121401661

Additional financing for this podcast is provided by the Polish MFA: Public task financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland within the grant competition “Public Diplomacy 2024 – 2025 - the European dimension and countering disinformation The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the official positions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.

In this episode, the three co-hosts Adam Reichardt, Nina Panikova and Alexandra Karppi start with some discussion about the ongoing protests in Serbia and Slovakia. They also discuss the results of last weekend’s president “election” in Belarus.

Later, Adam and Alexandra are joined by Oktawian Milewski - a political scientist specialising in Central and East European studies and author of the recently published article “Countering FIMI. A review of seven countries under the Beacon Project” available on New Eastern Europe’s

Read more: “Countering FIMI. A review of seven countries under the Beacon Project” Oktawian Milewski, New Eastern Europe 15 January 2025: https://neweasterneurope.eu/2025/01/15/countering-fimi-a-review-of-seven-countries-under-the-beacon-project/

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Happy New Year from Talk Eastern Europe! In their first episode back from the winter break, Adam, Nina and Alexandra bring listeners up to speed on Donald Trump's inauguration in the United States, presidential elections in Belarus and Croatia, and the ongoing protests in Georgia and Serbia.

For the main interview, Alexandra and freelance journalist Mark Temnycky recap the war in Ukraine in 2024 and discuss what to expect in 2025. Mark shares insights on Ukraine’s heroic gains, cracks in Russia's offensive and what we know (and don't know) about the future of western support to

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