News
30. September 2022
Behind the scenes: Andreas Stein
Andreas Stein is part of the management of FilmFestival Cottbus and the festival's project manager. About the FFC he states: "For me, the FFC means first and foremost good and multi-layered films on the screen, a now unfortunately rather rare feeling of togetherness among all festival visitors and, above all, my hometown of Cottbus in a state of cultural emergency - exclusively in a positive…
29. September 2022
Behind the scenes: Doreen Goethe
Doreen Goethe is part of the executive board of FilmFestival Cottbus. Doreen organizes the opening and award ceremony. About the FFC she says: "For me, the FFC is a week full of diversity, exciting encounters and cinematic surprises."
28. September 2022
The festival poster is here!
There it is! The festival poster of the 32nd FilmFestival Cottbus! Blue is our brand color, the colorful lines reflect the diversity of the festival, colored in the section colors. And our award sculpture LUBINA has many faces ... Grafik by Susanne Uhlmann
27. September 2022
First Step - Award for FFC trailer director Sophie Linnenbaum
THE ORDINARIES, the first feature film by Sophie Linnenbaum, was awarded the First Step Award for Best Feature Film on 26 September. Linnenbaum was responsible for the festival trailer at the 2015 FilmFestival Cottbus, which picked up on the then focus theme "Eastern Europe of Cities". THE ORDINARIES is an experimental social satire, a role play of the film characters in the literal and metaphorical…
27. September 2022
Our Venues - Kammerbühne/Serienlounge
As every year at this year's FFC, the chamber stage will become a movie theater and the adjacent canteen will become a series lounge, inviting you to watch films in a relaxed atmosphere. ? This year, for example, the successful crime drama series LAUCHHAMMER and the Serbian hit series THE FAMILY will be on screen! The Kammerbühne is part of the Staatstheater Cottbus. Click here…
26. September 2022
PICKASTORY - Interview with winner Minos Nikolakakis
PICKASTORY is the Logline Audience Award at FilmFestival Cottbus is that focuses on the basic idea of a film and involves the audience from the very beginning - a crucial aspect of filmmaking that is often overlooked. The audience of the FilmFestival Cottbus can choose their favorite film idea from a short list that contains only loglines of projects that have not yet been developed:…
26. September 2022
Our Lubina - Interview with Beate Bolender
The artist and inventor of the Lubina Beate Bolender tells us in an interview the secret behind the glass sculpture. She also takes us into her workshop and shows us how the Lubina is created from a clay print. You can see the whole interview here on our YouTube channel!
22. September 2022
COTTBUS AT PILSEN
From 23 to 28.9. the Czech beer city of Pilsen will once again be transformed into a film festival city: within the framework of the "Finále Pilsen", current Czech cinema will once again be presented, including some films that will soon also be shown at the upcoming edition of the FilmFestival Cottbus, such as Beata Parkanová's THE WORD about a lawyer in a small town…
21. September 2022
Our Venues: Gladhouse & Obenkino
If you want to see a special film, go to the Obenkino! We are very happy that we can call the Obenkino one of our venues again this year with the FFC. You can see our films starting November 8 in the hall of the Gladhouse Youth Cultural Center. Click here for the website of the Obenkino.
20. September 2022
POLISH DIVERSITY AT THE GDYNIA FILM FESTIVAL
On 17 September, the Gdynia Film Festival came to an end in the Polish Baltic Sea city. The most important national film festival took place for the 47th time. Twenty current Polish feature films competed for the three main prizes, the audience prize and fifteen other prizes for individual cinematic achievements. The spectrum ranged from the distopic zombie action tragicomedy APOKAWIXA and the mountain climbing…
19. September 2022
FFC buses on the road in Cottbus
From now on, chic FFC are on the streets of Cottbus again. We thank Cottbusverkehr and Werbestudio3 for the cooperation!
15. September 2022
Nominations for the Oscars Abroad 2023
Ahead of the 95th Academy Awards, which will be held in Hollywood on March 12, 2023, European countries are beginning to announce their titles submitted for the Best International Feature Film award. These FFC films have been submitted so far: Bulgaria: Mother, Zornitsa Sophia (Bulgaria/Croatia/Germany)> FFC 2022, Spectrum Bosnia Herzegovina: A Ballad, Aida Begic (Bosnia Herzegovina/France)> FFC 2022 Spektrum Croatia: Safe Place, Juraj…
14. September 2022
Behind the scenes - Joshua Jádi
Joshua Jádi is deputy program director of the FFC. He studies directing and screenwriting at the Vienna Film Academy. In 2017, he was awarded the Annie Dodds Award by the Imperial War Museum in London. His short film THE OPPOSITE OF ETERNITY and his freshman documentary SUNDAY 11 A.M. have been screened and awarded at international festivals. About the FFC, Joshua says, "The FFC is…
12. September 2022
FFC goes Türkisches Film Festival Berlin
Berlin has a Turkish Film Festival again. More than five years after the Turkish Film Week Berlin was discontinued, a young team has come together to bring current Turkish cinema to Berlin and thus promote intercultural exchange. The FilmFestival Cottbus also shows how exciting Turkish cinema is. Turkish cinema has been a regular part of the program there since 2019, and in 2021 a close-up…
12. September 2022
Lausitzer FilmSchau - New award honors best film idea
You don't have a film yet, but you have a cool film idea? We will help you with the realization! The Akcija! - Film Prize/filmowe spěchowańske myto is awarded to the best film idea this year. You are a team of at least three film enthusiasts between 12 and 25 years? Do you live in Lusatia? Then go ahead and submit your idea! 1,000 euros…
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…