Awards were widely dispersed with Russia taking the main prize for Corrections Class by Ivan Tverdovsky and a best director prize to Alexander Kott for Test, but there were also prizes for Kosovo and Georgia, as well as Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic.

The festival programme over the years has reflected the changes across the region itself in a sometimes prescient manner. That was on display this year with the inclusion of an LGBT themed section, and a Ukrainian focus that acted as a sort of balancing parallel to the festival’s annual Russian Day. The main competition itself echoed the shifting nature of CEE film, encompassing the exquisitely paced Georgian film Corn Island produced by Alamdary Film and Axman Production, the Kosovo film Three Windows and A Hanging which had won the best pitch award at Connecting Cottbus two years earlier, and the technically impressive Polish blockbuster Warsaw 44 by rising young filmmaker Jan Komasa (produced by Akson Studio in coproduction with Telewizja Polska, Orange Polska, Narodowe Centrum Kultury, Mazowiecki Instytut Kultury, Mazowiecki Fundusz Filmowy, Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego, with funding from the Polish Film Institute and the Czech State Film Fund), a tribute to the effect the Polish Film Institute has had on the transformation of that nation’s film industry. Conversely, the Hungarian competition film Free Fall by Gyorgi Palfi was made without Hungarian public funding, a topic which has engendered both bemusement and debate.

Programme director Bernd Buder spoke with FNE about the shift he has noticed in films from the CEE region. “Eastern Europe is divided into two or even three parts. Central Europe is closer to the western part, and after 2005 (and the EU expansion), I don’t see so many differences. On the other side are the very poor countries, and the third part is countries where film is under political pressure,” he said. “We’re seeing more sarcastic or pointed commentary from Eastern Europe and more TV production in film from the Czech Republic and Hungary.” Buder, who stepped into the top spot at Connecting Cottbus four years ago and has been at the helm of the Cottbus festival for the past two years, will be leaving Connecting Cottbus to concentrate on his position as programme director of the festival. The long-time festival director Roland Rust, who had been away for health reasons, announced his official departure from the festival a week earlier.

Local audiences have embraced the festival, with the largest screening hall filled to capacity each evening. Out-of-town visitors trying to make their travel connections were faced with an unanticipated challenge with a nation-wide train strike coinciding with the festival. An inconvenience for some, perhaps, but another reminder of how much this eastern province of Germany has changed over the past quarter of a century.

The complete list of winners follows:

Best Film:
Corrections Class (Russia, Germany)
Directed by Ivan I Tverdovsky

Special Prize for Best Director:
Test (Russia)
Directed by Alexander Kott

Award for Outstanding Actress:
Piroska Molnar
Free Fall (Hungary, France, South Korea)
Directed by Gyorgy Palfi
Produced by KMH Film

Award for Outstanding Actor:
Emir Hadžihafizbegović
These Are the Rules (Croatia, France, Serbia, Macedonia)
Directed by Ognjen Svilicic
Produced by Maxima Film

Special Mention:
Three Windows and a Hanging (Kosovo, Germany)
Directed by Isa Qosja

Best Short Film:
Horsepower (Romania)
Directed by Daniel Sandu
Produced by ICON production

Special Prize:
Olga (Estonia)
Directed by Kaur Kokk
Produced by Nafta Films, Alasti Kino 

Special Mention:
Herding (Kyrgyzstan)
Directed by Ruslan Akun

Best Youth Film:
Goodbye (Germany, Kazakhstan)
Directed by Anna Hoffmann

Cottbus Discovery Award:
Maria Stock (Czech Republic)
Directed by Jan Brezina
Produced by FAMU

Dialogue Prize for Intercultural Communication:
Three Windows and a Hanging

Best Debut Film:
Schmitke (Germany, Czech Republic)
Directed by Stepan Altrichter
Produced by Produkce Radim Prochazka

Audience Award:
Corn Island (Georgia, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan)
Directed by George Ovashvili
Produced by Alamdary Film, coproduced by Axman Production

FIPRESCI Prize:
Corrections Class

Ecumenical Jury Prize:
Corrections Class