Facts: - 12 competition entries from 14 coproduction countries
- prize money total of 77.750 EUR
- top-class international jury
This has become clear over the years: it can be difficult to identify a red thread in the feature film competition of the FilmFestival Cottbus and this is by no means a bad thing. For ultimately it is this multifacetedness that provides the common ground for all twelve competition entries. The films that emerge from the cultures in Eastern Europe and tell stories about them are just as diverse as these cultures themselves, no matter whether they are arthouse auteur films or colourful and whimsical comedies. This will be as much the case as always during the festival's anniversary issue from 3 to 8 November.
Fourteen different co-production countries ranging from Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and our neighbour Poland are entering the competition with their twelve feature films. A total of 77,750 euros will be awarded this year, with 42,500 euros alone going to the competitors in the feature film competition. The main award for Best Film, donated by the Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten (GWFF), will be endowed with the substantial sum of 25,000 euros in celebration of the festival's 25-year anniversary. A top-class international jury will decide who of the producers, directors and actors will be taking home one of the 'Lubina' glass sculptures in addition to the cash prizes. Five film makers from five different countries and generations will join forces in this anniversary year: Zelimir Zilnik from Serbia, Ineke Smits from the Netherlands, Andreas Kleinert from Germany, Aida Begic from Bosnia-Herzegowina and Visar Morina from Kosovo.
As usual, newcomers will be found amongst the competition participants, although every now and then well-known faces also happily find their way back to Cottbus. Amongst others, Branko Schmidt, who last attended the 22nd issue of the FilmFestival Cottbus, will present his latest film IMENA VISNJE (UNGIVEN (The Names of the Cherry) | Croatia 2015), which tells the story of an elderly couple returning to their home town. The rebuilding efforts subsequent to the war take a toll on their relationship, which is largely due to his irritability and her increasing forgetfulness. With ZVIZDAN (THE HIGH SUN | Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia 2015), a project returns to Lusatia that dates back to the East-West Coproduction Market connecting cottbus in 2011. Director Dalibor Matanic explores the relationship between Serbs and Croats in recent history in three different episodes focusing on three love stories between people of different ethnicities, always played by the same actors. The film is about the impossibility of love in wartime, cautious approaching each other caught between trauma and distrust during the post-war period and ultimately about continuing with one's life without being able to forget the past. Bartek Prokopiewicz likewise explores the story of a complex relationship in CHEMO (Poland 2015). Frequently employing colourfully playful and musical-style elements, he shows in a rather atypical manner how two people unexpectedly falling in love with each other have to come to terms with the difficulties of combating cancer.
The Polish competition entry DEMON (Poland, Israel 2015) brings to light an aspect of the past that had been swept under the carpet. The mysterious horror drama by the recently deceased director Marcin Wrona traces an unpleasant part of Polish history when the ghost of a Jewish girl takes hold of the bridegroom at a wedding.
In the Hungarian production LIZA THE FOX FAIRY (Károly Ujj Mészáros | Hungary 2014), the eponymous heroine finds herself likewise possessed by a ghost - that of a deceased Japanese pop singer from the 1950s who out of jealousy very angrily messes around with her solitary quest for great love and stops at nothing in the process. The Slovenian comedy SISKA DELUXE (Jan Cvitkovic | 2015) carries plenty of cult potential. The three losers Mile, Fedr and Zekir decide to open a pizzeria in their neighbourhood, at first with moderate success. Owing to their unconventional concept, however, the restaurant soon becomes a cult location in the neighbourhood. The Russian New Year story LAND OF OZ (Russia 2015) by Vasily Sigarev introduces some weird characters to the silver screen: Lenka Shabadinova encounters some really strange men during her odyssey to a new job at a Moscow kiosk.
By contrast, WEDNESDAY CHILD (Hungary, Germany 2015), the feature film début by Lili Horváth, strikes a serious chord as it follows 19-year old Maja in her battle for custody for her five-year old son, presenting a mature coming-of-age film and in-depth social background study at the same time. Family problems and complications are unearthed in FAMILY FILM (Czech Republic, Germany, Slovenia, France 2015) by Olmo Omerzu. The absence of their parents due to a South Sea vacation provides the youths at home with new freedom, yet soon also unexpected worries; this is a very different contemplation of social co-existence. HEAVENLY NOMADIC (Kyrgyzstan 2015) by Mirlan Abdykalykov provides insights into family life in the Kyrgyz steppe:
the film captures in atmospheric nature shots the everyday life of a traditional nomadic family, tells about the ancestral myths as well as the looming shadow of rural exodus - in only one generation nothing here will be the same any more.
And finally, FAIR PLAY (Andrea Sedlácková | Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Germany 2014) raises moral issues: How far may one go for success in sports? Set against the historical setting of Czechoslovakia during the 1980s, the film at the same time conveys the notion that an answer to this question is not always as easy as it may seem at first. The Macedonian- Kosovar production THREE DAYS IN SEPTEMBER (Darijan Pejovski | 2015) likewise raises questions that have no simple answers. Two women, who at first glance have nothing in common, meet on a train. Both harbour secrets that are gradually revealed over the course of this gripping thriller, turning them into allies.
The festival is decisively sponsored by the Federal State of Brandenburg, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the City of Cottbus as well as by the European Union's MEDIA - Creative Europe Programme.