Cottbus, November 10, 2016 – This year’s awards at connecting cottbus go to Voroshilovgrad and Sister. Ten selected projects presented themselves in search for European coproduction partners, organized in parallel with FilmFestival Cottbus. At its 18th edition, the international projects competed for four coco awards and were granted in Cottbus tonight.
The coco Post Pitch Award 2016 of EUR 25.000 in postproduction services went to Macedonian the project Sister by Dina Duma and his producer Marija Dimitrova. Two inseparable teenage friends must face the consequences of their mischief which has led to the possible death of a classmate. Their friendship is put to test when they decide to investigate. Sister was selected by an expert jury consisting of Alexander Bohr (ZDF/arte), Juliette Lepoutre (Still Moving) and Michael Reuter (The Post Republic).
The coco Best Pitch Award 2016 was selected by all coco participants and went to Voroshilovgrad by Yaroslav Lodygin from Ukraine. A sunny, humourous adventure through the Wild Plains of Eastern Ukraine. Herman Korolyov comes back to his hometown to fight against the violent kukuruzniks and make the locals value and defend their own property and dignity. In this journey, he finds his true home, love and friends. Voroshilovgrad's producer Vladimir Yatsenko receives a cash prize of €1,500 sponsored by Berliner Synchron and, in addition, the coco Producers Network Award: an accreditation to the Producers Network at the Marché du Film in Cannes.
The new Midpoint Scholarship Award, which arises from the cooperation between cocoLab and Midpoint, went to Alive in Moscow by Grigore Becket. The award enables this film project to participate in the Midpoint Feature Launch, a professional script and development program for emerging film professionals.
Again, coco gave proof of its particular rank as one of the most important platforms for co-productions from Eastern and Western Europe. coco director Rebekka Garrido points out the main reasons and declares: “This year, coco received a record number of more than 120 applications from 35 countries, from which ten coco projects were selected. The number of film professionals visiting connecting cottbus also grew to a record level of more than 180. We initialized and pursued unique formats and panels such as cocoLab to offer our participants increased individual coaching. Also successfully continuing was #FEEDback (Film Eastern Europe Dialogue) the European film industry initiative in partnership with the Transilvania International Film Festival and the When East Meets West co-production Forum. This year, we were very glad to focus especially on Ukraine to present Ukrainian co-production possibilities, projects and case studies together with our partners, the Odessa International Film Festival and the Ukrainian State Film Agency. Over and above we were extremely excited to welcome our participants and guests at our new market location, the historic Stadthaus in Cottbus. And, certainly, the more we are very happy about the immense positive feedback and affirmation from all over. Thus, we are looking forward to walk on our 19th edition in this beautiful and inspiring place and to experience another one of a kind happening next year.”
coco participants can hope to follow in the footsteps of films such as THE HIGH SUN, ONE FLOOR BELOW (both Cannes Un Certain Regard 2015), MOTHERLAND (Venice Film Festival 2015) or A GOOD WIFE (Sundance Film Festival 2016), all of which were pitched in Cottbus before they were successfully produced and released.
coco supporters and partners
connecting cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH, the Creative Europe/MEDIA Program of the European Union and MDM Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung GmbH.
Supporting partners of connecting cottbus are CineLink Sarajevo, EAVE,Maia Workshops, Odessa International Film Festival, Meetings on the Bridge, Metfilmschool Berlin, Midpoint, Producers Network and TIFF Transilvania International Film Festival.
Sponsoring partners: Creative Europe Desk Berlin-Brandenburg MEDIA, Film Commission Poland, Film New Europe, Polish Film Institute, Stadt Cottbus and Ukrainian State Film Agency
The coco Post Pitch Award 2016 is sponsored by The Post Republic
The coco Best Pitch Award 2016 is sponsored by Berliner Synchron
The coco Producers Network Award 2016 is sponsored by Producers Network
The Midpoint Scholarship Award 2016 is sponsored by Midpoint
Further information is available at www.connecting-cottbus.de
