A total of ten entries will be shown within the feature film competition, including one world première and nine German premières. The winner will be awarded the LUBINA, the main prize with its glass award sculpture and endowed with 20,000 Euro. In these submissions to the competition, the respective film makers deal with the question of how people want to live, they provide a degree of concrete social critique and some entries discuss the recent war in the region and its consequences. In the short film competition, eleven entries, amongst them two European premières and eight German premières, await the jury's decision.
With its competitions, the FilmFestival Cottbus addresses specifically young and upcoming Eastern European film makers, thereby facilitating their launching themselves into an international career. As in previous years, this year's festival audiences can look forward to being introduced to some very promising newcomers, in addition to other, already known names. In the feature film competition, there will be a reunion with Leszek Dawid, whose first full length feature film MY NAME IS KI (Poland 2011) was one of the award winners in the previous year. In his second feature film YOU ARE GOD (Poland 2012), he narrates the story of the legendary Polish hip hop group Paktofonika. The film became the biggest success in Polish cinema this year. The feature film début THE FIRST RAINS IN SPRING (Sano Shinju, Erlan Nurmuhambetov, Kazakhstan, Japan 2011) presents viewers with a very poetic depiction of the every day life of a Kazakh family of shepherds, set in a stunning landscape. By contrast, Juris Pokus' KOLKA COOL (Latvia 2011) draws a laconic portrait of young people in the Latvian province. Contrary to the expectations raised by its title, Paul Negoescu's feature film début A MONTH IN THAILAND (Rumania 2012) does not take place in Asia but is set in the Bucharest night life scene and deals with the question how and with whom one actually wants to live. The Russian comedy KOKOKO (Avdotya Smirnova, Russia 2012) confronts two women from very different social strata with each other and puts their exceptional friendship to the test. For her first feature film WOMEN'S DAY (Poland 2012), the popular Polish singer Maria Sadowska chose a topic of direct social critique by decrying the working conditions in discount supermarkets.
As regards subject matter, however, the Yugoslav Wars and their long-term consequences continue to constitute an important topic the Eastern European directors seek to explore. In his new film IN THE FOG (Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Belarus, Russia 2012), Sergei Loznitsa seeks to find answers to ethical questions raised by the broader context of war and (in-)humanity. For many film makers from the countries that formerly constituted Yugoslavia, the wounds suffered in the wars of secession are a long way from being healed: In a very disparate manner, DJECA – CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO (Aida Begić, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, France, Turkey 2012) and HALIMA'S PATH (Arsen Anton Ostojić, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia 2012) depict the way in which the survivors of the Bosnian War deal with their losses and traumata. By contrast, the Serbian spy thriller and feature film début by Miroslav Terzić REDEMPTION STREET (Serbia 2012) centres around the issues of guilt and punishment for the perpetrators.
All ten entries compete for the main award, endowed with 20,000 Euro by the Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten (GWFF). The Special Award for Best Director (7,500 Euro) is sponsored by the rbb broadcasting house. The City of Cottbus is the sponsor for the Award for Outstanding Male Actor, whereas the Award for Outstanding Female Actor is sponsored by the Sparkasse Spree-Neiße banking house. Both these awards are endowed with 5,000 Euro each. In addition, all
awardees will receive the LUBINA award sculpture made from glass. A prominently staffed International Festival Jury will award the various prizes. The eleven entries in the short film competition, with a regional range from Lithuania over the Kosovo to as far as Kyrgyzstan, compete for a total endowment of 3,500 Euro. All in all, the 22nd FilmFestival Cottbus will be awarding 20 prizes totalling 73,500 Euro in value.
The 22nd FilmFestival Cottbus is supported and funded by, among others, the Ministry of Economics of the Federal State of Brandenburg, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH, the City of Cottbus, as well as by its first partner Vattenfall and the MEDIA Programme of the European Union.
For more in-depth information, please do not hesitate to contact Diana Kluge and Cornelia Reichel either by telephone under +49 (355) 43107-13/-16 or by email under This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..