connecting cottbus, the East-West co-production market taking place in November during FilmFestival Cottbus, presents its selection of 13 projects in development and 6 works in progress for this year’s online edition.
From 4-6 November 2020, the 22nd edition of connecting cottbus (coco) will take place online, presenting exciting feature film projects to a select audience of co-producers, sales agents and other potential partners. This year, 13 cocoPITCH and 6 cocoWIP projects from 13 countries in broader Eastern Europe will be pitched. All projects compete for a variety of awards. Their producers and directors will take part in in-depth feedback sessions with industry experts in the cocoLAB, while all industry participants can join online networking events and a framework programme focusing on current production topics.
Despite all collective hardships at the festival circuit this year, we are proud of the coco alumni projects released in 2020: besides SERVANTS (Slovakia/Ireland/Czech Republic/ Romania) by Ivan Ostrochovský, which competed at Berlinale Encounters in February, Ivan Tverdovskiy’s CONFERENCE (Russia/Estonia/Italy/UK) premiered at Venice Days. THE CAMPAIGN (Romania) by Marian Crisan will premiere in Moscow in October, while Piotr Domalewski’s I NEVER CRY (Poland/Ireland) will be part of the New Directors Competition at upcoming San Sebastian.
This year’s cocoPITCH selection covers a variety of stories and characters, from accidental millionaires to greedy aunts and sad mathematicians. Once again the majority of protagonists are strong-willed women. Topics include home displacement, immigration and workers’ rights, corruption and sensationalist journalism, as well as a little-known practice called Catholic divorce. Debut feature projects are set alongside new work by award-winning filmmakers like Roman Bondarchuk, Robert Budina and Svetla Tsotsorkova, who received the Special Pitch Award FilmFestival Cottbus 2019 to present FORTUNE TELLER. Pre-selected by coco at partnering events were SEP & ANA by Paul Cioran, winner of the Transilvania Pitch Stop - coco Award at TIFF 2020, and VACUUM by Yelizaveta Smith, which took the Midpoint - coco Award (Midpoint Feature Launch) at Karlovy Vary Eastern Promises 2020.
The line-up of cocoWIP is equally diverse in terms of genre, ranging from dark comedy and savvy coming-of-age to vibrant historical epos. We are pleased to present two coco alumni projects: SISTER (WT; North Macedonia/Kosovo/Montenegro/France) by Dina Duma and STOP-ZEMLIA (WT; Ukraine) by Kateryna Gornostai.
This year, connecting cottbus takes place entirely online on 4-6 November 2020.
Producers, sales agents, commissioning editors and other industry representatives active in East-West European co-production can apply to attend without a project by 7 October 2020.
Selected cocoPITCH Projects 2020
CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC | Croatia | dir: Vanja Juranić | prod: Damir Terešak | Maxima film
FLOOD | Slovak Republic | dir: Martin Gonda |
prod: Katarína Krnáčová, Tomáš Gič | Silverart
Special Pitch Award FilmFestival Cottbus
FORTUNE TELLER | Bulgaria | dir: Svetla Tsotsorkova | prod: Svetoslav Ovcharov | Omega films
HONEY BUNNY | Croatia | dir: Igor Jelinović |
prod: Rea Rajčić | Eclectica
KIRIL’S LUCK | Bulgaria | dir: Milena Andonova |
prod: Katya Trichkova, Rali Ralchev | Contrast Films
NORWEGIAN DREAM | Norway, Poland | dir: Leiv Igor Devold | prod: Håvard Wettland Gossé, Bartek Glinski | Spætt Film / Impakt Film
PARADE | Lithuania | dir: Titas Laucius |
prod: Klementina Remeikaite | afterschool production
Transilvania Pitch Stop - coco Award
SEP & ΑΝΑ | Romania | dir: Paul Cioran |
prod: Claudiu Mitcu | We are Basca
SWAPS | North Macedonia | dir: Gjorche Stavreski |
prod: Gjorche Stavreski, Ivana Shekutovska | Fragment Film
THE EDITORIAL OFFICE | Ukraine | dir: Roman Bondarchuk | prod: Darya Bassel, Darya Averchenko | Moon Man / South Films
Midpoint - coco Award (Midpoint Feature Launch)
VACUUM | Ukraine | dir: Yelizaveta Smith |
prod: Aleksandra Kostina | Bosonfilm
WATERDROP | Albania | dir: Robert Budina |
prod: Sabina Kodra | Erafilm
WHEN YOU ARE 17 | Georgia | dir: Giorgi Mukhadze | prod: Nato Sikharulidze | Terra Incognita Films
Selected cocoWIP Projects 2020
EVICTION | Hungary | dir: Máté Fazekas |
prod: Gábor Osváth, Péter Fülöp | Filmfabriq / FP Films
FIRE! | Russia | dir: Maria Ignatenko |
prod: Egor Odintsov, Konstantin Fam, Ekaterina Mikhailova | Ark Pictures
SISTER (WT) | North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, France | dir: Dina Duma | prod: Marija Dimitrova, Liridon Cahan, Biljana Vusovic, Guillaume De Seille | List Production / Added Value Films / Videa Production / Arizona Productions
STAND BY ME | Russia | dir: Tamara Dondurey |
prod: Katia Filippova | Pan-Atlantic Studio
STOP-ZEMLIA (WT) | Ukraine | dir: Kateryna Gornostai |
prod: Vitaliy Sheremetiev, Vika Khomenko, Natalia Libet, Olha Beskhmelnytsina | Esse Production House
SUPERMARKET | Montenegro, Serbia | dir: Nemanja Becanovic |
prod: Milena Charan, Jelena Angelovski | VHS / Tri Osmine
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connecting cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Creative Europe/MEDIA, MDM Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and Land Brandenburg
Thanks to our partners: D-Facto Motion, Avanpost, Midpoint, Producers Network, Transilvania Pitch Stop, New Horizons Film Festival, eave, CineLink, Filmarket Hub, Odesa International Film Festival, Meetings on the Bridge, When East Meets West, Berlinale World Cinema Fund.
Organiser: pool production GmbH
