The European film festival buzz has started rolling again, and the FilmFestival Cottbus (FFC) is of course back in the game. Programme director Bernd Buder will join the 10th Kozzi Film and Theatre Festival from 15th to 19th of September, which is taking place for the seventh time this year in Cottbus' Polish twin city Zielona Góra.

The FFC traditionally presents the winning films of last year's feature film competition at the Kozzi Film Festival, this year it is KONFERENTSIYA | CONFERENCE by Ivan I. Tverdovskiy and JAK NAJDALEJ STĄD | I NEVER CRY by Piotr Domalewski. Also, Bernd Buder will be part of the jury again. A total of five prizes will be awarded, among them a prize for the Best Polish Feature Film and a prize for the Best Action Film.

The FFC has been a partner of the Kozzi Festival since 2012. At that time, the event took place in Kargowa, the birthplace of popular crime actor and festival namesake Maciej "Kozzi" Kozłowski. Supported by the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation, a selection of current German films will also be shown in Zielona Góra as part of the festival partnership under the title "Cinema on the Border".

The Kozzi Film Festival will take place from 15 to 19 September 2021. In addition to current films, there will be insights into the work of Polish renowned actors Maciej "Kozzi" Kozłowski, Wojciech Pszoniak, Piotr Machalica and Zygmunt Malanowicz, who starred in Roman Polański's cult film NÓŻ W WODZIE [KNIFE IN THE WATER]. Special sections will discuss spiritual and legal aspects of contemporary films - the priest Andrzej Draguła is once again curating the series "The Faith of 'Happy People'", and in the series 'Kozzi Gangsta Films' experts from the Zielona Góra law society - a judge, a prosecutor and a lawyer - are invited to comment on the films presented in an interdisciplinary way. Jan Holoubek's 25 YEARS OF INNOCENCE, which tells the authentic story of a man wrongly sentenced to 25 years in prison, will also be screened here. The film will also be shown at the FFC in November.

More information (in Polish): http://www.festiwal.norwid.net.pl/

While the renowned international film festival "Febiofest" in Bratislava, founded in 1993, had to be cancelled for the second time due to the Covid19 pandemic, the IFF Febiofest Bratislava Industry Days will get underway on March 29 and 30 - online, of course.

Bernd Buder, programme director of the FilmFestival Cottbus, joins the documentary film jury at this year's Szczecin European Film Festival in the Northern Polish town of Szcecin. The festival is well-known for a carefully curated program that focuses on short films that expand the artistic boundaries of their genres in various ways. In addition to artistic documentary films and regional films from West Pomerania, series with new German and Czech films and numerous special events are on the programme. The documentary jury awards five awards among the 26 films of the competition, including prices for the most innovative and the most moving film.

Further information at the festival-website.