Marthe Gärtner
Call for Entries – Submission opens for the 36th FFC
The submission phase for the 36th edition of the FilmFestival Cottbus is now open.
From April 1 to July 15, 2026, filmmakers are invited to submit their feature and short films from Eastern, East-Central, and Southeastern Europe. The festival will take place from November 3 to November 8, 2026.
As one of the leading festivals for Central and Eastern European cinema, FilmFestival Cottbus presents up to 150 films over the course of six days. With total prize money exceeding €50,000 – including €34,500 in the three main competitions (feature film, short film, and youth film) – it offers an outstanding platform for ambitious filmmakers.
The submission deadline is July 15, 2026. Late submissions may be considered in exceptional cases. Films can be submitted via FilmFreeway: https://filmfreeway.com/FilmFestivalCottbus.
For inquiries, please contact our program coordinators Merlin Webers and Vita Khmyz at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Impressions of the 30th Sofia Film Festival
FFC Program Director Bernd Buder attended this year’s Sofia Film Festival to scout new films and projects and to serve as a jury member in the Bulgarian competition.
The Sofia Film Festival took place for the 30th time in mid-March. Bulgaria’s largest film festival combines an international competition with competitions for the best film from the Balkan region and the best Bulgarian film.
Ondřej Provazník’s BROKEN VOICES (Czech Republic, Slovakia), which screened in the youth film competition at FilmFestival Cottbus (FFC) last year, won the award for Best Film in the international competition.
At the same time, the 23rd edition of the “Sofia Meetings” was held, where new film projects in development and works in progress were presented. FFC Program Director Bernd Buder reports: “In recent years, I have always discovered some remarkable films here that later went on to be shown in the FFC programme, such as the Czech-Slovak OUR LOVELY PIG SLAUGHTER (2024) or the Serbian-Croatian-Bulgarian HOW COME IT’S ALL GREEN OUT HERE? (2025). This year, too, there were once again several promising projects.”
Traditionally, the Sofia Meetings opened with a networking dinner hosted by German Films, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Connecting Cottbus, and FilmFestival Cottbus.
“Sofia was once again an inspiring trip, especially since I had the opportunity to serve on the jury for the Bulgarian competition together with Mihai Chirilov, Artistic Director of the Transilvania International Film Festival, and Dimitris Kerkinos, programmer of the ‘Balkan Survey’ section at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival,” Bernd Buder says.
The award went to Alexander Kossev’s WOMEN OUT OF ORDER, a reflection on four very different women navigating everyday life and change, crisis, hope, and the pitfalls of ordinary dysfunctional communication, which often shapes our self-perception so subtly that we hardly even notice it.
Success for FFC films at the Czech film awards "Český Lev"
In mid-March, the Czech film awards "Český Lev" (Bohemian Lion) were awarded for the 33rd time – honoring the best Czech cinema and TV films of the past year.
Among the winners were four films that screened at the FFC in 2025. The main prize for Best Feature Film and Best Supporting Actress (Juliána Brutovská) went to CARAVAN, which premiered in Cannes. Slovak director Katarína Gramatová won Best Director for her debut feature PROMISE I’LL BE FINE, while Kateřina Falbrová received Best Actress for her role in BROKEN VOICES. All three films were part of the FFC Youth Film Competition. Dũng Nguyễn was named Best Supporting Actor for his role in SUMMER SCHOOL, 2001, which screened in the FFC Feature Film Competition.
Czech cinema also gained international recognition: the documentary MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN, co-produced by the Czech Republic and Denmark, recently won the Oscar for Best Documentary. The film was also shown at the FFC 2025 in the “Spectrum” section.
Success for FFC Films at Latvia’s “Lielais Kristaps” Film Awards
On March 1, the Latvian National Film Awards, the “Lielais Kristaps,” were presented in Riga.
Among the evening’s major winners—alongside the current Latvian box office hit Escape Net—was the feature-length animated film Dog of God (Latvia, USA). Its creators, Raitis Ābele and Lauris Ābele, received the award for Best Animation Directors, while co-writer Harijs Grundmanis was honored with an additional prize.The gothic fantasy parable about power struggles, set in 17th-century Latvia, screened in the “Midnight Madness”section of the FilmFestival Cottbus in 2025.
The 1990s neo-noir police thriller Red Code Blue by Oskars Rupenheits won the awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Raitis Stūrmanis), Best Production Design (Toms Jansons), and Best Make-Up (Elīna Gaugere).
The film—an intense and authentic journey into the turbulent years following Latvia’s regained independence, marked by shifting power structures and turf wars between mafia gangs and morally ambiguous police forces—will also be screened at the FilmFestival Cottbus 2026 (3–8 November).
The Lielais Kristaps (Latvian for “The Great Christopher”) were first awarded in 1977; since 2014, the ceremony has taken place annually.
Sustainability in focus: 35th FFC awarded Green Events Seal
The 35th FilmFestival Cottbus has been awarded the Green Events Seal at the “Medium” level. The certificate was issued on 17th of February 2026 and confirms the continuous development of sustainable structures within the festival organization.
The award is part of the ongoing certification process with Netzwerk Green Events, aiming to systematically strengthen and anchor ecological and social standards in the long term. Achieving the “Medium” level recognizes both the measures already implemented and the festival’s ongoing commitment to responsible event management.
Sustainability is an integral part of the FilmFestival Cottbus identity. From regional partnerships and resource-efficient production methods to fair working conditions, the festival pursues a holistic approach that connects ecological, social, and economic responsibility.
Receiving the certification marks an important milestone while also providing motivation for further development. The festival remains committed to continuously expanding its sustainability strategy and making future editions even more environmentally friendly.
About Green Events:
The Green Events Network is Germany’s first multi-level certification system specifically designed for events and adaptable to different types and scales of event formats.
The certification is based on the Green Events catalogue of measures, a clear and practical management tool developed through a unique participatory process involving more than one hundred stakeholders from academia, politics, the event industry, and civil society.
The aim of the Green Events Seal is to provide optimal support on the path toward more sustainable events and to communicate this ongoing process transparently. It reflects the current status and defines concrete, practice-oriented goals – ranging from easily achievable measures to more ambitious targets. Suitable indicators help make progress and achievements visible.
Where Tomorrow’s Cinema Begins – FFC at the European Film Market
Alongside the Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin, this year’s European Film Market (EFM) once again offers outstanding opportunities to continue the exchange with world sales companies, film institutes and production companies from around the globe.
Which films are about to be completed? Which projects deserve special attention right now? Who is producing with whom? Which topics are emerging as the next trends? Where is targeted funding available – and where are financing structures stalling? How strongly is political influence being felt? Where does pressure come from below, where from above? And ultimately: how are audiences responding?
Back-to-back meetings, an almost endless flow of information, and many warm encounters with people with whom you somehow grow older over the years (a colleague and I realized that, over the course of a professional lifetime, it adds up to almost an entire year spent at the Berlinale and the EFM) – as well as inspiring conversations with younger colleagues.
At the same time, the market provides the special opportunity to dive into brand-new films that are initially screened exclusively for sales scouts and festival programmers. The first promising building blocks for the FFC 2026 programme have already been discovered.
Theatrical release of "MADE IN EU" on February 19
MADE IN EU, the latest film by Bulgarian cult director Stephan Komandarew, hits German cinemas on February 19.
The film screened in the “Cottbus Masters” section at FFC 2025. Known for his sharp social portraits, Komandarew tells the story of a textile worker in rural Bulgaria who, during the Covid pandemic, is pushed to the margins of society as the alleged “Patient Zero” – caught between global exploitation and local social Darwinism. A perspective from Europe’s periphery on its internal colonization.
Distributed by jip-Filmverleih, the film premieres on World Day of Social Justice.
More info: https://jip-film.de/made-in-eu/
FFC Visits the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival in Saarbrücken
Last week, our programmer Joshua Jádi attended our partner festival, the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival in Saarbrücken. Together with actor Ngo Xuan Thang, they presented the FFC film Summer School (2001), directed by Dužan Duong, to a full house. The screening was followed by an intense and engaging Q&A session.
We would like to sincerely thank Svenja Boe and Theresa Winkler for the wonderful time at the festival and the continued great collaboration. We are very much looking forward to welcoming your MOP film in Cottbus!
Theatrical Release of "Ida Who Sang So Badly…" on February 12, 2026
On February 12, Berlin-based cinema Krokodil will launch the Slovenian film “Ida Who Sang So Badly Even the Dead Rose Up and Joined Her in Song”.
The feature film debut of Slovenian director Ester Ivakič tells — “with great wit, a touch of magic, and deep sympathy for her characters” — the story of a childhood in rural Slovenia in the 1970s, shaped by the tension between socialist discipline and poorly concealed Catholicism (Susanne Mohr, FFC film text).
The Slovenian–Croatian co-production celebrated its world premiere at FilmFestival Cottbus 2025, where it received a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury, and subsequently went on to win two awards in Turin and Ljubljana — a film that convinces through its strong sense of atmosphere.
Further information can be found on the website of Kino Krokodil (https://kino-krokodil.de/programm/), which also facilitates screening requests within Germany (see https://kino-krokodil.de/verleih/).
Meeting Point for Eastern European Cinema: FFC at the 37th Trieste Film Festival
For the 37th time, the Trieste Film Festival is taking place in the northern Italian city of Trieste. Like the FilmFestival Cottbus, it focuses primarily on cinema from East Central and Eastern Europe.
For 16 years now, the co-production market “When East Meets West” has been held in parallel—an event that, for many industry professionals, provides lively and creative input at the start of the new film year, offering the opportunity to meet colleagues again and discover new film projects in one of Central Europe’s most beautiful cities.
FFC Program Director Bernd Buder and connecting cottbus Director Marjorie Bendeck were (once again) in attendance and discovered a number of promising new films and film projects, some of which will certainly be seen on Cottbus screens this autumn.
Many thanks to the organizers of “When East Meets West” and the Trieste Film Festival, with which the FFC partners in the European film festival network “Moving Images – Open Borders” (MIOB).