Press Release Cottbus
September 20, 2022
The 32nd edition of FilmFestival Cottbus will take place from November 8 to 13. The FFC is one of the world's leading forums for Eastern European cinema and, with a total of 1219 films, provides a unique overview of current filmmaking in Central and Eastern Europe. Among them are also this year numerous German, world and international premieres.
Embedded in the FFFC is connecting cottbus, one of the oldest and most successful co-production markets in Europe (November 9-11). Four competitions are at the heart of the festival.
The International Festival Jury, around Serbian superstar Dragan Bjelogrlić, will choose the best feature film, as well as the best directing performance and the best individual acting performance. The best short film and the special prize in this category will also be awarded by a top-class jury. The main prize in the U18 Youth Film Competition will be awarded by a Polish-Czech-German youth jury.
At the Lausitzer FilmSchau / Łužyska filmowa pśeglědka / Łužiska filmowa přehladka on Monday evening, the first prizes will also be awarded again as is traditional. This year, for the first time, a film idea will also be awarded a promotional prize, which will support the implementation of the idea to the finished short film. The only condition: the use of the Lower Sorbian language. In addition to the prize money, the coveted glass "Lubina" is also a prize sculpture and symbol of the FFC. The Sorbian girl's name translates as "the lovely one". A total of 16 prizes worth a total of nearly 70,000 EUR will be awarded at this year's FilmFestival Cottbus.
In addition to the four competitions, there will be seven other sections. In Spotlight RO, the focus this year is on Romanian cinema. In the new EcoEast section, films on ecological themes and sustainability will be shown. How does Eastern Europe deal with climate change, for example? The first films will be from Georgia. The series What`s left? asks how Eastern Europe is coming to terms with the "turn of the times". What is left of the promises made after 1990? Another series questions women`s roles under socialism and afterwards. The FullDome program at the Cottbus Space Planetarium offers a unique opportunity to enter completely into the world of film and to be drawn into the spell of a 360-degree projection. Current Polish films are traditionally presented by the section Polskie Horyzonty. This year they reflect images of the province. Films from Super-8 to 35 mm will be shown from the complete oeuvre of Ralf Schuster, a filmmaker by choice from Cottbus. The FFC program also includes the familiar sections Spectrum with current films between genre and essay, Hits with blockbusters from Central and Eastern Europe, and Kids im Kino with children's and family films. In Heimat | Domownja | Domizna, new Sorbian films will be shown, among others, and a tribute will be dedicated to Jörg Herrmann, one of the world's last practicing classical silhouette filmmakers.
Accreditations are now possible online and are free of charge for reporting press.
Further information about the program will follow.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.