For its 20th anniversary edition on 8-9 November, East-West co-production market connecting cottbus (coco) has assembled a diverse range of networking events and discussions on current buzz topics of today’s production landscape.
Aside from offering industry participants the chance to discover exciting new projects and discuss possible partnerships, coco’s framework programme gives insights into current trends and challenges in film financing, production and distribution, etc.
Sessions at coco will explore topics like the industry’s latest stir (or fright) blockchain. Erwin M. Schmidt, co-founder of the Propellor FilmTech Hub and the Berlin-based FilmTech Office, will bring hands-on information on potential applications of blockchain in media. Influencer marketing is another currently hyped audience engagement tool. Philipp Greulich, Head of Business Development at Polish-run marketing platform indaHash, will talk about how to reach out to potential viewers in an authentic way. Mathias Noschis of UK marketing agency Alphapanda, specialised in digital PR campaigns for independent and Hollywood films, will reflect on possible marketing strategies of two current cocoPITCH projects, while providing general pointers on the viral promotion of arthouse films.
Last but not least, we are happy to welcome back consultant, development and financing expert Linda Beath, for a lecture presented in collaboration with the international training network EAVE. Linda will discuss how to survive as a small indie production company in today’s competitive market, based on her study for Creative Europe MEDIA.
This year’s project representatives will join industry experts in our prep day cocoLAB, to strengthen their presentations. For 2018, coco has implemented a new connectingPOINT, a networking event for coco participants and filmmakers from the parallel running FilmFestival Cottbus. The 20th anniversary Focus coco panel will look at the progress and success of coco alumni projects, some of which are screening in the festival, or even made it onto the entry list of the Academy Awards.
This year’s edition of connecting cottbus takes place on 8-9 November 2018.
connecting cottbus is funded by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Creative Europe MEDIA, MDM Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and The State Chancellery of Land Brandenburg.
