News
09. September 2022
Behind the scenes - Bernd Buder
Bernd Buder has been program director of the FFC since 2015. He studied political science at the FU Berlin.Since then, he has been traveling the international film landscape as a curator, film journalist and lecturer. He has worked for the Berlin Filmkunsthaus Babylon, the Turkish Film Week Berlin and the co-production market Connecting Cottbus. He also advises the European film festival Cinedays in Skopje as…
08. September 2022
EUNIC-DokuMontag: Wood – Der geraubte Wald
Monday 12 September, 7:00 p.m. | Czech Center Berlin | Admission free Wood - The Stolen ForestAT, DE, RO 2020, 97 min, OmeUDirector: Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan, Michaela Kirst, Ebba Sinzinger Followed by a video talk with the Romanian co-director Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan. Investigative environmental docu-thriller about illegal logging in Siberia, Transylvania and Peru. Every two seconds, illegal loggers around the world destroy an area of forest the…
25. August 2022
Kuratorium (board of trustees)
Matthias Platzeck, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, former Minister President of the State of BrandenburgBerndt Weiße, Former Head of Department for Youth, Culture and Social Affairs of the City of CottbusHendrik Fischer, Ministry of Economics, Labor and Energy of the State of BrandenburgKerstin Jöntgen, Member of the Board of Management of Investitionsbank des Landes BrandenburgRalf Braun, Member of the Board of Directors of Sparkasse…
07. September 2022
Our Venues: Filmtheater Weltspiegel
The Filmtheater Weltspiegel is one of five venues of the 32nd FFC! The film theater is considered the oldest cinema in Brandenburg. It stands for a varied program with films that cannot be seen everywhere else. This makes it a perfect match for the FFC! Click here to visit the website of the Filmtheater Weltspiegel. In the following weeks we will present the other…
05. September 2022
Two months until the 32nd FFC
We are looking forward and are already totally excited! In less than two months the 32nd FilmFestival Cottbus starts? you think, that's still a long time until then? That's probably true, but here the heads are running hot: The PR department starts TODAY with the social media campaign, in the office of the program coordination the phones are running hot: about 170 films have to…
25. August 2022
MIOB - the festival network
MIOB - Moving Images Open Borders What is MIOB? MIOB is a network of seven European film festivals and was founded in 2017. All festivals are industry meeting points and at the same time audience festivals, which means there are exciting Q&As and matching (film) workshops after the films. At all film festivals, programs and films are curated that often do not find a…
19. August 2022
German Lunch @Sarajevo Film Festival
Sarajevo Film Festival August 12-19, 2022 At the CineLink Industry Days, in the framework of the Sarajevo Film Festival, there was the traditional "German Lunch" yesterday. Among them was the deputy program director of FilmFestival Cottbus Joshua Jadi. The "German Lunch" serves as a networking event for filmmakers. During the festival days, program director Bernd Buder was also in Sarajevo.
10. August 2022
This is the FilmFestival Cottbus
The FilmFestival Cottbus (FFC) is one of the leading international festivals of Eastern European film. It will take place from November 8 to 13, 2022. Founded in 1991, the festival focuses on feature films from the successor states of the former socialist countries, including all successor states of the former Soviet Union and their economically and culturally closely related neighboring countries Finland, Greece and Turkey.…
Polish Days at the Nowy Horyzonty Film Festival in Wrocław 21-31 Jul. This year's event will feature 4 completed films, 8 films in a presentation of works in progress and 10 projects in development. Deputy program director Joshua Jadi is on hand for FilmFestival Cottbus, and director Marjorie Bendeck is currently in Wrocław for connecting cottbus. During the event, industry representatives from around the world…
25. July 2022
Cottbus at the Postire Seaside Festival in Brač
The twelfth Postira Seaside Film Festival (PSFF) will take place from 26.07. - 31.07.2022 in the idyllic coastal town of Postira on the island of Brač in Croatia. The focus is on international short films. Every year, the FilmFestival Cottbus also presents films in the program. With the easing of the epidemiological situation around the Corona virus, this year it is possible to show the…
14. July 2022
PICKASTORY extended until 7 September
Pickastory Audience Logline Award at the FilmFestival Cottbus Send us your film ideas! We are looking for fresh new film ideas in form of an attractive logline – and the audience gets to pick the story they want to see on the big screen… Pickastory is an Award at the FilmFestival Cottbus that focusses on the basic idea for a film, involving THE AUDIENCE from…
14. July 2022
Filmnächte Cottbus
From 30.6. to 31.7.2022 - Filmnächte in Cottbus Spreeauenpark. Experience great movies in a unique open-air cinema atmosphere! On Monday 18.7. the film "Abteil Nr. 6" will be shown - in cooperation with the FilmFestival Cottbus.Start 9.30 pm. Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen sends two outsiders on an amusing and deeply touching journey, on which they are confronted - without any kitsch - with the truth…
14. July 2022
FFC on the road: Pula Film Festival
Pula Film Festival - 69th Pulski Filmski Festival from July 16 to 24. Program Director Bernd Buder has traveled to Croatia in search of films for the Cottbus FilmFestival in November. At the festival in Pula, the Croatian film awards "Golden Arena" will be presented. The festival was founded in 1954 as a Yugoslavian film festival and has successfully developed as a festival for current…
14. July 2022
FFC on the road: European Film Festival Palić
European Film Festival Palić - July 16-22, 2022 Joshua Jádi, Deputy Program Director of FilmFestival Cottbus will travel to Palić in Serbia. As a member of the Official Jury of the Main Competition, he will be there to watch the 12 films of the Official Competition together with producers Michael James McMahon and Katriel Schory, actress Katarina Radivojević and producer and curator Lorna Tee, and…
14. July 2022
FFC on the road: European Film Festival Palić
European Film Festival Palić - 16. bis 22. Juli 2022 Joshua Jádi, stellvertretender Programmdirektor des FilmFestival Cottbus reist nach Palić in Serbien. Als Mitglied der Offiziellen Jury des Hauptwettbewerbs wird er dort gemeinsam mit den Produzenten Michael James McMahon und Katriel Schory, der Schauspielerin Katarina Radivojević und der Produzentin und Kuratorin Lorna Tee die 12 Filme der Official Competition anschauen und am Ende den Gewinner…
14. July 2022
FFC on the road: CineDays Skopje
CineDays Festival of European Film - July 7-14, 2022 Program director Bernd Buder is currently in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. The Cinedays will show a total of 14 current first and second feature films in two competitions there. In addition, there is a gala program with great cinema from A-festivals. A conference with cinema makers from the region will revolve around the question of…
11. July 2022
Reading tip: Ukraine on film
"The mixture of precise observation and poetic motifs and a tendency towards the grotesque makes Ukrainian cinema today as interesting as it is unpredictable." (Quote B.Buder) Read more about the history of Ukrainian cinema now. On the portal of the Federal Agency for Civic Education there is a NEW dossier on "Ukraine in Film" under the heading "Film Education". Programme director Bernd Buder has written…
06. July 2022
MIOB New Vision Award
The festival network MOVING IMAGES - OPEN BORDERS (MIOB) will again present the NEW VISION AWARD this year. This award is dedicated to current European feature films and documentaries that have already had a successful appearance at at least one of the participating festivals. The prize brings the winning film broad international recognition and is awarded by the festival organisers. The MIOB NEW VISION AWARD…
The International Film Festival Karlovy Vary will take place from July 1 to 9, 2022. On July 4, the Cottbus Film Festival and connecting cottbus jointly invite to the East European Brunch. connecting cottbus director Marjorie Bendeck welcomes established or emerging filmmakers as well as representatives of the media, politics and culture. No less than three films that have been pitched as projects at connecting…
24. June 2022
GWFF award winner and coco projects in Karlovy Vary
With the Croatian-Serbian co-production THE UNCLE, the renowned A Film Festival in Karlovy Vary (1.-9.7.2022) is screening a film by a FilmFestival Cottbus award winner:Ivan Kelava, the Croatian producer of David Kapac's debut film, was awarded the GWFF funding prize for a talented film production student in 2014. One of the main roles in THE UNCLE is played by Serbian acting star Predrag Miki Manojlović.…
24. June 2022
filmPolska presents LEAVE NO TRACES
The Polish film festival filmPOLSKA invites friends and lovers of Polish cinema to Berlin and Potsdam from June 22 to 19. The 17th edition will take place in cinemas, clubs and public spaces. On June 27, the Cottbus Film Festival will present the film LEAVE NO TRACES at the Thalia Kino in Potsdam. The feature film about the story of a teenager who died in…
24. June 2022
Cinema release ADVENTURES OF A MATHEMATICIAN
In 2020, the FFC screened the German-Polish-British co-production THE ADVENTURES OF A MATHEMATICIAN. Thor Klein's feature film about the Polish-Jewish mathematician Stanislav Ulam, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1938 and was instrumental in developing the atomic bomb program there, was awarded the "Cottbus-ins-Kino" prize in 2020 for promoting the distribution of a film from the FFC program. Now the Filmwelt distribution agency is releasing…
From 9 to 12 June, the Kozzi Krafftówna Łomnicki Film and Theater Festival took place for the eleventh time in Cottbus' twin city Zielona Góra.Joshua Jadi, deputy programme director of the FFC, was a guest and presented some German films in the programme. In competition, the jury, chaired by film critic Łukasz Maciejewski and festival programme director Dr Andrzej Buck, awarded the festival's top prize…
17. June 2022
FFC at the Hungarian Motion Picture Festival: Talking about East Central European Cinema Today
Bernd Buder, Program Director of the FFC, at the Hungarian Motion Picture Festival in conversation with Can Togay, Chief creative and artistic advisor ECOC Veszprém-Balaton 2023 . The town of Veszprém close to the lake Balaton, one of the oldest cities in Hungary, will be the European Capital of Culture 2023. Since 2021, the largest national Hungarian film festival, the Hungarian Motion Picture Festival, has…
16. June 2022
Ukrainian Cinema Now
„Ukrainian Cinema Now“ FFC Program Director Curates Ukrainian Film Series on EFA Streaming Platform Under the title "Ukrainian Cinema Now," the European Film Academy is streaming 16 Ukrainian films made between Euromaidan 2014 and the beginning of the Russian attack on Ukraine on its Academy VOD Platform until July 10. The selection was curated by FFC program director Bernd Buder. It exemplifies the artistic and…
16. June 2022
FFC on the road: Evia Film Project
From June 15 to 19, the Evia Film Project organized by the Thessaloniki Film Festival will take place for the first time in Greece. The island of Evia was hit by devastating forest fires last summer, which almost completely destroyed the island's nature. To mark this event, the Evia Film Project is focusing on films, green producing workshops, events and panel discussions dedicated to the…
09. June 2022
FFC and BTU
The Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg and the Cottbus Film Festival invite you to a joint online event on 10 June. The online event is kindly supported by the Embassy of Romania in the Federal Republic of Germany and takes place under the motto "30 years of German-Romanian partnership and friendship in Europe". The integrated German-Romanian study programme "Social Work" with a double degree at…
From 10-14 June, Cottbus' Polish twin city Zielona Góra will host the 11th Kozzi Krafftówna Łomnicki Film and Theatre Festival, named after the Polish genre actor Maciej Kozłowski, who died in 2010 and in whose birthplace of Kargowa the festival was founded in 2013 as the "Kozzi Gangsta Festival". Since then, the FilmFestival Cottbus has been cooperating with the organisers of the festival, which now…
Many FFC regulars will remember the dachshund that hovered over an imaginary Eastern European cityscape in the 2015 FFC trailer. At the time, the trailer, entitled "Discovering the World in Cottbus," alluded to the focus "Eastern Europe of Cities," which dealt with everyday urban life in Eastern Europe. Director Sophie Linnenbaum studied at Babelsberg Film University at the time and has since completed numerous films.…
From June 9 to 12, the Hungarian Motion Picture Festival at Lake Balaton presents about one hundred Hungarian films, including twenty premieres. The screenings in Veszprém, Balatonfüred and Balatonalmádi provide a comprehensive insight into the current Hungarian film landscape. The festival, which takes place within the framework of the 'Veszprém - Balaton 2023 - European Capital of Culture" program, was first held in 2022 as…
23. May 2022
Staatstheater Cottbus shows "Maidan" and "Donbass"
The Staatstheater Cottbus, together with the FilmfestivalCottbus as a regional partner, is showing two films by the Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa: Ukrainian Documentary: Maïdan 24.05.2022 | Tuesday | 19:00 | Kammerbühne Admission is free. Donations are requested! For more information click here. Ukrainian Documentary Film: Donbass 25.05.2022 | Wednesday | 19:00 | Kammerbühne Admission is free. Donations are requested! For more information click here.
20. May 2022
FFC on the road: Cannes International Film Festival
Cannes International Film FestivalFrom May 17th to 26th, Bernd Buder and Joshua Jádi can be found at the International Film Festival in Cannes. The focus there is on networking with producers, world distributors and national film sponsors, as well as research on current films from Eastern Europe.In the pictures you can see: 1 Impression Cannes2 Impression Cannes3 MIOB (MOVING IMAGES – OPEN BORDERS)v.l.n.r.: Bernd Buder/FFC,…
16. May 2022
FFC on the road: Off Camera Festival
Jana Riemann was for us at the Mastercard Off Camera International Festival of Independent Cinema in Krakow. "I visited the festival to participate in the Industry Programme and to find films for our FFC programme. I can't tell you anything about it yet, but I can definitely say that I saw great films, met exciting people and fell in love with this beautiful city." Festival…
13. May 2022
FFC on the road: Zielona Gora
The Norwid Library in Cottbus' twin city Zielona Góra is hosting the Kozzi Krafftówna Łomnicki Film and Theater Festival in mid-June. As a teaser, Jan P. Matuszynski's LEAVE NO TRACES was shown on May 12 in cooperation with FilmFestival Cottbus. The feature film about the story of a teenager who died in a police operation against opposition activists during the times of martial law in…
15. April 2022
FFC WINNING FILM SWEEPS SLOVAK FILM AWARDS
On 9 April, 107 MOTHERS by Peter Kerekes, the winning film of the 2021 FFC competition, was awarded three Slovak Film Awards: the "Sun in a Net" awards for Best Slovak Film 2021, Best Director and Best Screenplay, which Kerekes co-wrote with Ivan Ostrochovský. The Slovak Film Awards are named after Štefan Uher's classic 1963 film "The Sun in a Net", one of the first…
01. April 2022
FFC on the road at the Greek Film Festival Berlin
The Greek Film Festival in Berlin will take place from March 30 to April 3, 2022. The festival offers German and international audiences the opportunity to experience the best of the Greek film landscape on the big screen.Held once a year in the heart of Berlin at the historic Babylon, with directors, producers, special jury members and art professionals in attendance, it has already established…
31. March 2022
FFC film in cinemas from today: Compartment No. 6
2021 in the Feature Film Competition at the FFC: FROM TODAY IN THE CINEMA Laura came to Moscow from Finland to learn Russian. But she fell in love with Irina and stayed. When they both want to set off together to visit ancient rock paintings thousands of kilometres away from Moscow, Laura suddenly finds herself alone on the train and doesn't know why herself. Instead,…
25. March 2022
detailed statement of the FFC about the Ukraine war
Detailed statement FFC team and Coco on the handling of Russian films on 22.3.2022
25. March 2022
FFC on the road in Budapest
FFC at the Castorp Film School in Budapest In September 2021, four Hungarian writer-directors Petra Szőcs, Zsófia Szilágyi, György Mór Kárpáti, Zoltán Moll and producer Róza Kereszty launched the operation of the independent Castorp Film School in Budapest. The program is created in connection with freeszfe, which was founded after privatization plans for the state film school FSZE became known and the influence on the…
25. March 2022
FFC on the road: Bratislava Industry Days
Bratislyva Industry Days will be held as part of Febiofest Bratislava. For the first time since 2019 again in presence. For us, program director Bernd Buder is on site. Indzstry Days will feature 11 works-in-progress from new Slovak feature, documentary and short film projects. Maybe there will be a film for this year's Cottbus Film Festival?
16. March 2022
FFC films in the ZDF Mediathek
Three feature films from Eastern Europe, reflecting the social changes in the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan and Georgia since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, are currently available on ZDF Mediathek: Tragicomedy "Nationalstraße" National RoadŠtěpán Altrichter Czech Republic, Germany, 2019, 90 min--> won the "Cottbus into Cinema Award" and the "Audience Award" at the FFC in 2019. Life doesn't love Vandam, but he loves his regular…
15. March 2022
Boykottiert das Cottbuser Filmfest Russland?
Stellvertretender Programmdirektor Joshua Jadi und FFC Kuratorin Jana Riemann zur Frage: Boykottiert das Cottbuser Filmfest Russland? Hier der Artikel, erschienen in der Lausitzer Rundschau. Oder per Klick in die "Bildergalerie":
15. March 2022
Cooperation with Zielona Góra extended
The FFC will continue to cooperate with its long-standing partner, the Cyprian Norwid Library in Cottbus' Polish twin city Zielona Góra, in 2022.The Kozzi Krafftówna Łomnicki Film and Theatre Festival will take place there from 10-14 June. The focus this year is on the work of actors Barbara Krafftówna and Tadeusz Łomnicki - and of course the original namesake Maciej Kozłowski, the genre actor who…
09. March 2022
War in Ukraine: Statements and interviews always updated
Programme Director Bernd Buder on 31.03.2022 Vilnius film festival boycotts Russian films Vilnius is the first European festival to actively boycott Russian cinema, while also organising its own Ukrainian Cinema Day and some Ukraine-focused events as part of the industry focus Meeting Point. What do you think of these initiatives? It is important to sustainably support the Ukrainian film scene as an integral part…
08. March 2022
Eastern European Film in Times of War: Film Festival Director Bernd Buder in the Corso Podcast
Cultural professionals are regular guests in the studio and answer questions in the Corso Talk. Our programme director Bernd Buder was a guest on 7.3.2022. You can listen to the podcast , conducted by Susanne Luerweg, here: Click here
08. March 2022
War in Ukraine: Quote by FFC Team and Coco
Like the whole world, we makers of the FilmFestival Cottbus and its co-production market connecting cottbus are deeply shocked by the war of aggression of the Russian state under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine. We condemn this war in the strongest possible terms! In their more than 30-year history, the FilmFestival Cottbus and connecting cottbus have always seen themselves as a platform…
03. March 2022
War in Ukraine: Quote by Jana Riemann
Quote Jana Riemann, curator of the Cottbus Film Festival and member of the "Short Film Competition" selection committe3.2.2022 "I have the privilege of commenting on the war in Ukraine today from the safety of my home office.I freeze as I watch the images on my screen and I can hardly imagine how this can be happening now in my home country. The war of aggression…
From 25 February to 6 March, the renowned Belgrade International Film Festival FEST will take place for the 50th time. Marjorie Bendeck, Director of the East-West Co-Production Market "Connecting Cottbus" (CoCo) and Programme Director Bernd Buder are on location for us this year. Bernd Buder is on the lookout for Serbian films for this year's Cottbus Film Festival, so he spends a lot of time…
25. February 2022
War in Ukraine: Quote by program Director Bernd Buder
Quote by Bernd Buder, Program Director Film Festival Cottbus25.2.2022 "We are in contact with Russian and Ukrainian filmmakers who are suffering in a personal and professional level from the war and the associated political pressure. I am also personally very affected and am afraid that the war is getting closer. At the beginning of the 2000s, there was a phase that was full of hope…
13. January 2022
We Are Looking For You!
We are looking for a Management Assistant/Project Manager as a parental leave replacement. We are looking for you to join our team in Cottbus - as a full-time permanent employee. Alongside the management, you will play a key role in managing the FilmFestival Cottbus (FFC) and the Jewish Film Festival Berlin and Brandenburg (JFBB). While the FFC is one of the world's leading festivals for…