News

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 9: {gallery}news-gaeste-09112016{/gallery}      

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 8:{gallery}news-gaeste-08112016{/gallery}      

On Tuesday, the 26th FilmFestival Cottbus was opened at Staatstheater Cottbus. The greatest surprise of the evening was the appearance of director Andreas Dresen. He held the laudation for Kirsten Niehuus, Managing Director of the Film Funding Department of the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, who was awarded the honorary LUBINA in recognition of her achievements for the development of Central and Eastern European film.Niehuus ist the fourth laureate…

At 7 pm, the moment arrives: on the eve of the grand opening of the 26th FilmFestival Cottbus, the Cottbus FilmShow (Cottbuser FilmSchau) will hold its 14th edition in recognition of regional filmmaking from all of Berlin-Brandenburg and the Saxonian Lusatia region.  First in line of the four competition sections, the FilmShow not only offers a platform for presenting the 16 best short films by…

In only three days, a cosmopolitan attitude and hospitality will blend once again with an informal festival atmosphere when the film industry’s ‘Who is Who’ meet with friends of Central and Eastern European cinema. The grand opening will be presented by actor and director Axel Ranisch; notable guests include the Honorary Festival President and Academy Award winner István Szabó as well as numerous representatives from…

Big news for lovers of short films: This year's festival edition boasts selections of finest short films not only in one, but several programme sections. Already the opening short film programme on 8th November at Staatstheater Cottbus,  4 Kurze zur Begrüßung, will provide an international and diverse kick-off into the festival week. The programme will be screened again on Wednesday, November 9th , in the festival centre Stadthalle.…

In only five days, on November 8th, the FilmFestival Cottbus will officially be opened at the venue of the Staatstheater Cottbus. Until then, this year's Festival Trailer should get you excited for six days of finest Eastern European Cinema! In what has evolved into a festival tradition over the years, the Festival Trailer is produced by a team of students from the Film University Babelsberg…

The diplomatic and economic ice age in Cuba has come to an end, change is under way. How do Cuban and foreign filmmakers reflect the status quo of the Cuban society? Can parallels be drawn to the transitions that many Central and Eastern European countries underwent in the 1990s? Cinematic links, current topics and motifs are in focus at the FilmFestival Cottbus from November 8 to 13,…

What connects the parrot of French foreign minister Édouard Daladier to Trabant-adventurers with and without wheelchairs, two ‘silly’ daughters and a carer with acting ambitions? They are the stars in our National Hits, the programme section for real crowd-pleasers which have tills ringing in their home countries, but rarely make it to foreign cinemas. The following four current films have hit the mark in the…

Jan P. Matuszyński’s debut feature OSTATNIA RODZINA/THE LAST FAMILY won the price for the Best Polish Film at the 30th Warsaw screenings. The screenings were held in the frame of the 12th CentEast Market at the Warsaw Film Festival and featured eleven new Polish films, presented to an audience of international film festival scouts, producers and sales agents. The winner was chosen by the international…

Come and join us November 8-13! Only until October 23 film industry and press may accredit for the 26th FilmFestival Cottbus. Discover, discuss and network - a trip to the FilmFestival Cottbus is always a good choice.Programme highlights from the 26th editionBesides the three competitions the section "Focus Cuba" will mark the beginning of a new series exploring the shared experience of socialist regimes in…

Bernd Buder, programme director of the FilmFestival Cottbus, will join the “Regiofun” film festival from 19th to 23rd  October. The festival in the capital of the Silesian wojewod shows films which had been produced with the support of regional film funds. It takes place for the 7th time.  With the Polish fiction feature THE LAST FAMILY, WAVES and THESE DAUGHTERS OF MINE, the festival in…

Competition 2016 Twelve films from eighteen co-production countries compete for the awards in the Feature Film Competition while nine films from nine countries are part of this year’s Short Feature Competition:   Feature Film Competition ANAS CKHOVREBA/ANNA'S LIFENINO BASILIA, Georgia 2016, 109 MIN CÂINI/DOGSBOGDAN MIRICĂ, Romania, France, Bulgaria, Qatar 2016, 104 MIN ERNELLÁÉK FARKASÉKNÁL/IT’S NOT THE TIME OF MY LIFE SZABOLCS HAJDU, Hungary 2016, 81 MIN…

Less than four weeks to the start of the festival and the members of the all in all eight juries of the 26th FilmFestival Cottbus are eager to get active. Today we present the International Festival Jury that will assess the entries in the Feature Film Competition and thus has the honour of awarding the festival´s show-piece, the glass award sculpture LUBINA. Each award sculpture is…

European refugee experiences and German contemporary history are among the issues at stake at the 26th FilmFestival Cottbus. From November 8 - 13, 2016, we will present two film series  in the Specials programme section: "Exploring the Past: German-Polish-Czech History Through the Ages" and "Bridges and Breaks – Convergence in Post-Unification Germany". Both series investigate the disruption of identities in the lifes of people following historic upheavals. …

Peter Bebjaks ČISTIČ/THE CLEANER, which was shown in the Spectrum programme section at the FilmFestival Cottbus in 2015, won three IGRIC awards in its country of production, the Slovak Republic, on September 22, 2016. A total of 22 awards were given for the 26th time by the Slovak Film Union, Literary Fund and Union of Slovak Television Creators.  ČISTIČ/THE CLEANER won the Special Prize for…

From September 19th to 24th , 2016, the Gdynia Film Festival will take place for the 41st time. The most important national film festival in Poland gives a detailed overview on the current Polish cinema – from the feature film competition which offers 18 awards, to programme sections for experimental (“Visions Apart”) and children’s films as well as retrospectives showing Polish musical films and works by the…

The first sections and film series are posted to their fixed time slots in the 2016 programme. Programme Director Bernd Buder and head of Programme Coordination Susann Trzewik join forces to prevent any overlapping and make sure each space is filled with long, short and medium length film thrills. Until the entire programme is complete, it will take a little more patience. But not to…

The accreditation form for film industry and press for the 26th FilmFestival Cottbus is online. Come and join us November 8-13! Discover, discuss and network - a trip to the FilmFestival Cottbus is always a good choice.Programme highlights from the 26th edition: besides the three competitions the section >Focus Cuba< will mark the beginning of a new series exploring the shared experience of socialist regimes…