The artwork of this year’s 31st FilmFestival Cottbus

The time has come: We are happy to present the artwork of this year's FilmFestival Cottbus! How the artwork was developed and the motivation behind it can be found in this short profile.

The Polish Film Festival "filmPOLSKA" opens its doors today for the 16th time and shows until 01.09.2021, screening this year's programme in 13 cinemas throughout Berlin.

The 27th FilmFestival Cottbus (7 to 12 November) dedicates its section FOCUS Việt Nam ở châu Âu | Vietnam in Europe to the migration history of Vietnamese contract workers and their succeeding generations in Central Europe.

“The story of former Vietnamese contract workers and their children and grandchildren in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic reflects several ambivalences of European migration history: they were invited as a workforce, remained as human beings, were threatened with deportation and confronted with racism”, outlines Programme Director Bernd Buder their lives in Germany. “The programme’s range of films poignantly and often ironically highlights aspects of migration history and explores various Vietnamese-European identities.”

15 films from Vietnam, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and the former GDR investigate the emotional state between xenophobic resentments, patriarchal family tradition and self-liberation, the fear of deportation and painstakingly won social acknowledgement in a personal and accentuated approach. The films are essayistic and documentary, touching, analytical and ironic and they offer genre appeal. The short film MEINE ERLEBNISSE/MY EXPERIENCES (GDR, 1962) is a historically fascinating homage, documenting the ideals of the immediate post-war periode.
Also part of the programme is the only co-production between the GDR and Vietnam: DSCHUNGELZEIT/TIME IN THE JUNGLE from 1988 was the first foreign feature film that was entirely shot in Vietnam. Director Jörg Foth is a guest at the 27th FFC and will talk about his experiences in shooting this film.
Director Đức Ngô Ngọc, who trained at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, follows the lives of the inhabitants of a floating village in Vietnam in his documentary film FAREWELL HALONG.
Two budding directors of Vietnamese origin studying at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague reflect on the younger generation’s dwindling links to their parents’ roots and on life between two homelands in the short film MAT GOC and the animated film MALÁ/THE LITTLE ONE.

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.