News
29. June 2017
Cottbus at the 52nd Karlovy Vary IFF
From 30th June to 8th July, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) will take place for the 52nd time. Due to its strong accent on Central and Eastern European cinema, the renowned A-Festival in the North Bohemian health resort belongs to the most important research and networking events in Cottbus’ festival calendar. In co-operation the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and connecting cottbus, the FilmFestival Cottbus invites…
27. June 2017
Open-Air-cinema at the Spreewälder Filmsommer started!
This summer, the Spreewald region will be transformed to an huge Open-Air-Cinema. In cooperation with the FilmFestival Cottbus, the charitable club “Verein für Film- und Medienpädagogik Cottbus e.V.” offers hilarious, emotional and funny European movies at different Open-Air-Locations in the Spreewald region from 3rd June to 6th October. The season started already at Hafen 2 in Lübben, with a favorite of the 23rd edition of…
The Jewish Film Festival Berlin & Brandenburg (JFFB) will take place for the 23rd time from 2nd to 11th July . The FilmFestival Cottbus is proud to be a partner of this renownedfestival for the second time. The JFFB presents not only an enormous artistic range of current films , but above all differentiated, and contradictory views on Jewish everyday life, culture and history worldwide.…
08. June 2017
Scouting in Transilvania
From June 5 to 12, Elvira Geppert is scouting at the 16th Transilvania International Film Festival in Cluj-Napoca. During the days of Romanian film, she watches the most recent Romanian films and researches latest news from one of the most creative film countries in South Eastern Europe. During the Industry Days, she will join the closed screenings which present the most current Romanian films which…
07. June 2017
Scouting in Sochi
Our curator of the Russian Day, Marcel Maïga, joins the Filmfestival Kinotavr in Sochi from 8th to 14th of June. The most important national Russian film festival will take place for the 28th time in Sochi. The main competition shows 14 current feature films, including the debut film TESNOTA by Kantemir Balagov which won the FIPRESCU award at this year's Cannes Festival, as well as…
The Managing Board of the Kosovo Cinematography Center has appointed two evaluation juries for the projects that have applied for financial support in this year’s competition of Kosovo Cinematography Center annual bid. Buder will participate in the jury which will evaluate feature films, debutant and minor co-production and will be joined by Isa Qosja, renowned Kosovar filmmaker who has had a huge success with the…
15. May 2017
Meet Cottbus in Cannes
From May 17 to 28, the international film industry will meet for the 70th time at one of the world's most important film festivals. The festival will present a few new films by cult directors and new talents from East Central and Eastern Europe - the new films by Sergej Loznitsa, Kornél Mundruczó and Andrey Zvyagintsev participate in the competition for for the "Golden Palm".…
08. May 2017
FFC at Neisse Film Festival
FilmFestival Cottbus cooperates with the Neisse Filmfestival again From 9th to 14th May, the international Neiße Filmfestival take place for the 14th time. Since 2004, the Filmfestival has provided a forum for young filmmakers from Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany. This year, the festival will be offering cross-border events in the triangle between those three neighboring countries, showing more than 130 feature, documentary and…
02. May 2017
FFC at FilmPOLSKA
"FilmPOLSKA", the largest Polish film festival outside Poland, will take place from 3rd to 10th May in Berlin for the 12th time. From the somnambolian techno-trip "All These Sleepness Nights" to the mother-daughter docudrama "You Have No Idea How Much I Love You", the festival gives an impression of the entire range of contemporary Polish cinema, from the traditionally strong documentary film to internationally acclaimes…
The trailer of the FilmFestival Cottbus 2016, "The Windmaker", runs in the competition of the 20th "Spotlight" festival in Stuttgart. The festival takes place from 4th to 6th May. It was founded in 1998 as the "International Festival for TV spots and TV-Spots advertising film" in Ravensburg (Southern Germany). In the meantime, seven categories are being involved in various competitions: television and cinema commercials; trailers…
25. April 2017
Oppose Othering: FFC in Wiesbaden
The FilmFestival Cottbus is one of the partners of the project "Oppose Othering" initiated by the goEast-Film Festival in Wiesbaden. Young filmmakers from Germany and Central and Eastern Europe are traveling together in two-country teams through their countries: the aim is to cinematically engage with people with differing social, religious, cultural, ethnic origin and / or sexual identity, and to portray projects that promote solidarity,…
Under the title "German Cinema - Německe kino - German Cinema", the FilmFestival Cottbus will present a program with four German feature films and five short films at Finále Pilsen (20th to 26th April). The series was developed in cooperation with the most important national film festival of the Czech Republic and is supported by the German-Czech Future Fund. The program includes Pepe Danquart 's…
07. April 2017
Cottbus winner awarded in Vilnius
The Polish THE LAST FAMILY won the prize for the Best film at the Vilnius Film Festival "Kino Pavasaris" worth 5000 Euro. Jan P. Matuszyński's portrait of the family life of the cult painter Beksiński was awarded by the jury of the competition section "New Europe - New Names", which shows feature films from Eastern Central and Eastern Europe. THE LAST FAMILY won awards for…
In its next edition, the FilmFestival Cottbus will show a country special dedicated to the film country of Belarus. A lively, independent film scene has been emerged there recently, whose work has already been successfully screened in the national competition of the Minsk "Listopad" film festival. One of the representatives is the filmmaker Vlada Senkova, whose first feature film COUNT IN ORANGES ran at the…
04. April 2017
Verstärkung gesucht
Auch wenn die Frühlingssonne gerade erst kräftig zu strahlen beginnt, wirft der 27. Jahrgang des FilmFestival Cottbus (7. bis 12. November 2017) bereits lange Schatten voraus. Zur Vorbereitung der nächsten Festivalausgabe suchen wir – zum Teil bereits ab Juni - für unser Team noch hochmotivierte, engagierte und freundliche Verstärkungen in der PR- und Marketingabteilung, der Programmabteilung und in der Gästebetreuung. Mehr dazu findet Ihr unter…
30. March 2017
Cottbus at Kino Pavasaris in Lithuania
The Vilnius International Film Festival "Kino Pavasaris" (Lithuanian for: Spring) invites its audience and international industry representatives from the 22nd March to 6th April for the 22nd time for a trip through the international independent and arthouse cinema landscape. Over 200 films in a total of 20 sections, from family entertainment to VR films, are screened. One of the most important sections is the "New…
Sergiusz Opaliński, one of the six participants of the Polish-Czech-German student jury of the “U18” youth film competition at the FilmFestival Cottbus 2016, won the Grand Prix of the 8th amateur film festival in Cottbus' Polish twin town Zielona Góra with his film THE POWER (MOC) at 16th March. The ‘Star Wars’ parody is about a group of students, who are supported by none other…
On 16 March, the "Short Tiger 2017" were presented by the German Federal Film Board (FFA) in Berlin. Five extraordinary short films were awarded. One of the films focusing on flight and migration came from the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf – MEINUNGSAUSTAUSCH (lit. EXCHANGE OPINIONS), directed by Sophie Linnenbaum and Sophia Bösch. The experimental documentary film tackles the fear of the Germans of the…
The public regional and municipal library C. Norwid in Cottbus' twin town Zielona Góra and the FilmFestival Cottbus have extended their long-term cooperation. The cooperation is part of the "Kozzi-Cybulski-Wilhelmi" film and theater festival that will take place from the 12th to the 16th July 2017 in Zielona Góra, Żary, Szprotawa and Wiechlice, dedicated to the work of the actors Maciej Kozłowski, Zbigniew Cybulski, Andrew…
15. March 2017
Cottbus in Sofia
Once again FilmFestival Cottbus together with connecting cottbus, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) will present an Industry Diner at the 21. Sofia International Film Festival (March 9-31). In parallel to the most important filmfestival in Bulgaria the film market Sofia meetings takes place fom March 16 to 19. Focussing on (South) Eastern Europe new feature film projects will be presented and the most recent…
13. March 2017
Cottbus Filmshow winner MĚR in Zielona Góra
The short film MĚR (Lower Sorbian for: peace) by Anne-Kathrin Schöler-Rensch and Clemens Schiesko, which was awarded the Special Prize of the Foundation of the Sorbian People at the Cottbus Filmshow in 2015, will be running at the amateur film festival in Cottbus' twin town Zielona Góra (Poland). The Cottbus Filmshow annually opens one day before the official start of the FilmFestival Cottbus, presenting the…
15. February 2017
Start of the 2017 festival season accompanied by award ceremony: East European Brunch in Berlin
This Wednesday the FilmFestival Cottbus and the East-West co-production market connecting cottbus (coco) celebrated the onset of the new year at the traditional East European Brunch, held to coincide with the Berlinale, within the framework of which two awards were conferred. The event were kicked off with the conferment by Dr. Gertraude Müller-Ernstberger, director of the Munich based Agency for Film and Television Rights (GWFF),…
07. February 2017
FilmFestival Cottbus at the Berlinale: GWFF-award for the Slovak producer Radka Babincová
At this year’s Berlin Film Festival, the FilmFestival Cottbus, in cooperation with connecting cottbus, will again organize the industry meeting “East European Brunch” in the representation of the federal state of Brandenburg in Berlin.During that reception, the Slovak production student Radka Babincová will receive the scholarship grant funded by German collective society GWFF - Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten mbH, Munich. The price…
03. February 2017
Cottbus in Clermont-Ferrand
From February 3rd to 11th the International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand will be held the 39th time. Following Cannes Clermont-Ferrand not only is the largest Filmfestival in France but furthermore the place to be of the International Short Film scene. Beyond the festival programme the Short Film Market offers specific programmes of selected countries. So among others, relevant production countries for Cottbus Film Festival like…
30. January 2017
Cottbuser Wettbewerbsbeitrag mit TV-Premiere im WDR
Was das Cottbuser Festivalpublikum bereits seit längerem schätzt - nämlich die außerordentliche Qualität des osteuropäischen Filmschaffens - davon kann sich nun auch jeder Filmfreund am TV überzeugen. Der WDR zeigt am 1. Februar um 23:25 Uhr Žiga Virc` HOUSTON, WIR HABEN EIN PROBLEM! erstmals im TV. Die höchst unterhaltsame Mockumentary feierte ihre Deutschland-Premiere im Rahmen des 26. FilmFestival Cottbus im November 2016 und war einer…
27. January 2017
FAMILY FILM in German Cinema
Olmo Omerzus FAMILY FILM, which competed in the competition of the FilmFestival Cottbus in 2015 and was awarded the prize for the best male actor (for Karel Roden), will be released in German cinemas on 2nd February by Déjà-Vu films. The Czech-Slovenian-French-German co-production is about a well-off family in Prague - mother, father, dog and two almost grown children - whose members are put to…
20. January 2017
Cottbus in Saarbrücken
Cottbus goes West: at 25th and 28th January, FilmFestival Cottbus curator Jarosław Godlewski will present the short film program from last year's Cottbus youth film competition at the film festival Max Ophüls Preis in Saarbrücken. The Polish short ADAPTATION, directed by Bartosz Kruhlik, who grew up in the Lubusz region near the Polish-German border, VIKTORIA featuring Anjorka Strechel in the lead role, and STORM CELLS,…
17. January 2017
Cottbus in Trieste
From the 20th to the 29th January, the Trieste Film Festival will be held for the 28th time. The festival in the north-eastern Italian metropolis on the border to Slovenia is dedicated to the cinema of Southeast and East Europe. This year, the Romanian director Cristi Puiu and the Russian documentary film director Vitaly Manskij are invited as honorable guests, many other directors from the…
12. January 2017
Cottbus trailer director 2014 shows his debut at the Berlinale
PATHS, the first feature by Chris Miera, director of the FilmFestival Cottbus trailer 2014 which adapted that year’s focus section’s subject “queerEAST”, is shown at the Berlin Film Festival 2017. PATHS has its world premiere in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section. The drama tells about Andreas and Martin, a couple which had to realise during their first holiday since year’s, that their common emotions became…
11. January 2017
OPPOSE OTHERING – call for projects and ideas
Our partner festival goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film launched the project OPPOSE OTHERING! in 2016, with the support of Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (Foundation EVZ). Young filmmakers from Germany and Central and Eastern Europe set off together in teams of two on a journey through their respective countries. Their central objectives: to use the means of cinema to investigate misanthropic…
09. January 2017
"Exploring the Past" movies in Berlin
In the first half of the year 2017, the German Culture Forum for Eastern Europe will repeat four films, which were shown at the FilmFestival Cottbus 2016 as part of the special "Exploring the Past: German-Polish-Czech History through the Ages". At 13th January, there is the opportunity to see Michał Korchowiec's MORGENROT again on big screen in the Berlin cinema "Krokodil". The filmmaker travels to…
THE ERLPRINCE, the current feature film by the Polish director Kuba Czekaj, whose BABY BUMP (photo) was shown in the youth film competition at the FilmFestival Cottbus in 2016, runs in the program of this year's Berlinale. THE ERLPRINCE, like BABY BUMP, is an unusual, innovative coming-of-age film about the endless challenges of puberty - an associative story of growing up: a fifteen-year-old boy between…
02. January 2017
Polish journalist Zdzisław Haczek awarded with the „Golden Ducate“
The local and cultural journalist Zdzisław Haczek was awarded the "Golden ducats" of the Lubuskie Voivodeship on December 22nd. The award has been given annually since 2013 for merits for the spread and protection of culture. Haczek, who lives in Zielona Góra, reports for the daily regional newspaper "Gazeta Lubuska". He also reports from the FilmFestival Cottbus, which he has regularly visited for 26 years.…
30. December 2016
Jahresausklang mit dem BÄUMCHEN
Alle Freunde des Märchen-Marathons am Jahresende dürfen sich über eine Verlängerung freuen. DAS SINGENDE, KLINGENDE BÄUMCHEN ist noch bis 25. Januar 2017 in der ARD Mediathek zu sehen. Die Neuverfilmung des Klassikers feierte ihre Weltpremiere im Rahmen des Kinderfilmsonntag auf dem zurückliegenden 26. FilmFestival Cottbus. Filmemacher und Darsteller erlebten am 13. November gemeinsam mit zahlreichen begeisterten Besuchern, die erstmalige Vorführung der Produktion von rbb und…
12. December 2016
“Further punch” for Polish-German co-productions: New partner and increased budget for the Polish-German Film Fund
One day before the award ceremonies for the European Film Awards, Magdalena Sroka, head of the Polish Film Institute, Kirsten Niehuus, head of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Claas Danielsen, head of Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, and Peter Dinges, head of Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA), signed an agreement on cooperation within the framework of the Polish-German Film Fund, which added the FFA Federal Film Fund as a new partner of this initiative.…
09. December 2016
FilmFestival Cottbus partner for OPPOSE OTHERING!
In April 2016, the goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film saw the launch of the human rights oriented project OPPOSE OTHERING! Five young international directorial duo teams from Germany and Central and Eastern Europe are currently in the process of completing films that confront the phenomenon of focused misanthropy directed at groups – also known as “othering”. The project website is now…
08. December 2016
Cuban Premiere for TRANSIT HAVANA
TRANSIT HAVANA, the new documentary by Daniel Abma, will have it Cuban premiere at the 38th Havana Film Festival in the beginning of December 2016. The film about the initiative of president Raúl Castros daughter Mariela to offer transgender operations and support LGBT rights in the Socialist country also talks about the situation of homosexuals and the every-day-life in Cuba. Abma was co-curator of this…
28. November 2016
Two awards for trailer director 2015 Sophie Linnenbaum
Sophie Linnenbaum, who directed the 2015 trailer of the FilmFestival Cottbus which picked up motives of the „Eastern Europe of Cities“ focus, won two awards at the 36th Filmschoolfest Munich. Her current short OUT OF FRAME, which was produced at the film university Potsdam-Babelsberg, won the Panther award for the best European film production and the audience award. Linnenbaum was also part of the jury…
24. November 2016
Cottbus jury member Mira Fornay DAAD grantholder 2016
The Slovak director Mira Fornay is currently the guest of the DAAD’s Artists in Berlin program. She has made a couple of short films and two features, which tackle the issue of migration, exclusion and discrimination. With close distance to all protagonists involved, her films offer a poignant reflection of today’s everyday racism – without moralizing. Fornay had been a member of the International Festival…
Right after its double win at the FilmFestival Cottbus (FIPRESCI-Prize and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury), the Hungarian director Attila Till is able to reap more praise for TISZTA SZÍVVEL/KILLS ON WHEELS in the form of not one, but six awards in Thessaloniki and Arras, respectively. The film portraying three wheelchair users who join forces as hitmen swept jury, critics and audiences off their feet at…
14. November 2016
The FilmFestival Cottbus at the interfilm International Short Film Festival Berlin
The FilmFestival Cottbus will be presented with two programmes at the 32nd interfilm International Short Film Festival Berlin which will show 600 films from 70 countries between November 14 - 20, 2016. The Focus programme Cuba in Shorts and the programme of the section Polskie Horyzonty comprising films which were made at the Gdynia Film School were curated in cooperation between the FilmFestival Cottbus and interfilm and have…
13. November 2016
Sunday highlights on the festival finish line
The LUBINAS have been handed over - and still there is plenty of opportunity to catch some festival highlights on Sunday. Three freshly selected winner films of the 26th FilmFestival Cottbus get a special screening starting from 15.00 at Weltspiegel: The Prize for the Best Youth Film went to GEWITTERZELLEN/STORM CELLS. It will be featured at 15.00 in the intermediate film programme halblangXdrei. At 17.30 we…
The 26th FilmFestival Cottbus culminated on Saturday with the conferment of its much-sought after LUBINA awards, as well as prize money amounting to an approximate 80,000 EUR. On the occasion of the festival's 26th anniversary Dietmar Woidke, Minister-President of the Federal State of Brandenburg, stressed the continued relevance of the FilmFestival Cottbus: “This year the festival's outstanding selection of films has again impressed visitors and…
11. November 2016
Faces of 26. FilmFestival Cottbus – day 4
The Filmfestival Cottbus does not just consist of an exciting film program, but of the people who arrive daily in the FESTIVALCentre. They direct, act, produce, work in one of our juries or have curated sections and series: Our guests are the heartbeat of every festival year! Check here who we welcomed on November 11:{gallery}news-gaeste-11112016{/gallery}
11. November 2016
Thank God it's Festival Friday!
The festival friday awaits you packed with supporting events. Texts by Cuban author Santiago Díaz get the evening started in the lecture at Galerie Fango before the Party night is opened. Cuba Olvidar - the forgotten Cuba has us celebrating the way Cubans do till this day: with only water, lemon and rum. Start 20.00. Temperature rises at FESTIVALClub Scandale when DJ Holy Mo brings Fieber…
11. November 2016
Vlada Senkova takes FilmFestival Cottbus Discovery-Award
Young Belarusian film maker Vlada Senkova was awarded the FilmFestival Cottbus Discovery Script Doctoring Award yesterday. The prize to a value of 5.000 EUR is donated by EastWest Filmdistribution GmbH, Vienna, and consists of counseling services for the development of a script ("script doctoring"). The Cottbus Discovery Script Doctoring Award which is awarded annually at the FilmFestival Cottbus supports directing talents from Eastern Europe. This year's award thus highlights…
10. November 2016
Faces of 26. FilmFestival Cottbus – day 3
The Filmfestival Cottbus does not just consist of an exciting film program, but of the people who arrive daily in the FESTIVALCentre. They direct, act, produce, work in one of our juries or have curated sections and series: Our guests are the heartbeat of every festival year! Check here who we welcomed on November 10:{gallery}news-gaeste-10112016{/gallery}
10. November 2016
Polish shorts and today's Q&As
Spoilt for choice! The Krótkie Horyzonty at 19.00 feature finest current Polish short films, including LOKATORKI/TENANTS by Klara Kochańska. Her graduation film at the Polish National Film School in Łódź was awarded with a student Academy Award in 2016.
Meanwhile, at 20.00, you also have the chance to watch the smart docu-fiction HOUSTON, IMAMO PROBLEM!/HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM! by the Slovenian director Žiga Virc. Subsequently, you have…
10. November 2016
Film festival goes punk rock
Today from 16.30 Mighty and the band Two Doors to 69 (Cottbus/Berlin), along with DJ Sammy Fernandez, will take over the square in front of FESTIVALCenter Stadthalle for several hours. Two Doors to 69 already performed at the opening ceremony of the film festival at Staatstheater and will make sure to heat up a cold november afternoon. DJ Sammy Fernandez comes into play at 19.00…
09. November 2016
Skandał Nocny - the night is getting electric
Nightly scandal – everything may happen at our party in the name of twin cities Cottbus and Zielona Góra. Actress Beata Małecka, protagonist from 33 MINUTY W ZIELONEJ GÓRZE CZYLI W POŁOWIE DROGI/ 33 MINUTES IN ZIELONA GÓRA will take over the turntables as DJane „Żaba“ at the FESTIVALClub Scandale. Mighty and Pocki complete the trio at the turntables of this night. We invite you to a glass of…