"Given the initial rescheduling of the festival from November to December 2020, as well as the subsequent shift of the programme to online for a full 24 days, we are extremely pleased with the audience‘s response. Also, we are pleased that we have received a lot of positive feedback from our viewers from all over Germany about the hosting of the FFC," says Andreas Stein, managing director of FFC organiser pool production GmbH. "For the 31st FFC taking place in November 2021, we are of course looking forward to a 'normal' edition, but after the positive experiences of the past festival, we are also planning a digital programme offer, which will be available during or immediately after the festival."
The 30th edition of the FFC ended with a record number of accredited guests: almost 700 national and international industry, film festival and press representatives were digital guests at the festival. "This popularity shows the importance of the FFC as an industry platform. As places of personal encounters and exchange between filmmakers and their audience, we nevertheless still rate the importance of presence festivals very highly and hope for a strong analogue autumn in 2021," emphasises FFC programme director Bernd Buder. "With the digital focus of the 30th FFC, however, we have been able to successfully use the opportunity to boost interest in Eastern European films, content and themes nationwide."
The additional digital content, which will remain available on the festival's own YouTube channel, will continue to provide in-depth insights into the historical, cultural and political contexts of the film programme and the film landscapes of Eastern Europe beyond the 30th FFC. At www.youtube.com/FilmFestivalCottbus more than 50 panels, film discussions and talk sessions invite you to do so.
The 31st FilmFestival Cottbus will take place from November 2 to 7, 2021.
The FilmFestival Cottbus has not only mastered the transition of the format from a presence event to a digital programme. Another project will be put into action this year: the film festival network "Moving Images - Open Borders" (MIOB). Out of seven European networks funded by Creative Europe Media, MIOB is the only one under the coordination of a German film festival, namely the FFC.
With this year's digital network meetings, workshops, joint competition programmes and the digital expansion of the MIOB presence, the MIOB members (Festival de Sevilla, Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz, European Film Festival Palić, Les Arcs European Film Festival, Scanorama European Film Forum Vilnius, Trieste Film Festival, FilmFestival Cottbus) are pursuing, among other things, the goal of strengthening the common interests of film festivals with a European focus and consolidating a European network.
The FilmFestival Cottbus would like to thank its sponsors and partners who have actively supported the festival even under these difficult conditions. Special thanks go to Land Brandenburg, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH, the City of Cottbus, Creative Europe - MEDIA and the Federal Foreign Office.
We would also like to thank the Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten (GWFF), Sparkasse Spree-Neiße and Gebäudewirtschaft Cottbus, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany, the Federal Agency for Civic Education, the German Culture Forum for Central and Eastern Europe, the Investment Bank Land Brandenburg, the Foundation for the Sorbian People, the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation, the German-Czech Future Fund, Kulturland Brandenburg e.V., the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and all our other loyal partners and supporters as well as our media partners.
About the FilmFestival Cottbus
The 30th FilmFestival Cottbus took place in a nationwide online format: from December 8 to 31, 2020. In four competitions and numerous side sections, the FFC showed approximately 150 films competing for prizes with a total value of 72,000 Euros and the prestigious sculpture prize LUBINA (Sorbian: the Lovely). For the first time, not only the laureates of the Feature Film Competition, but also the winners of the Short Film and the U18 Youth Film Competitions, were honoured with the LUBINAs.
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