From 3 to 8 November, the 25th Film Festival Cottbus will take a look at Eastern European cinematography, which has always also reflected the geopolitical situation of the day. 

The festival΄s competition sections, will present the entire diversity of Eastern European cinema ranging from arthouse films to comedies, while the same applies for the rest of the sections and special screenings. Programme Director Bernd Buder said, among others, that "the filmmakers reflect upon the past, present and future, make statements, document events, or seek to change the viewers’ perspective [...] they comment on society with black humour or from a very personal perspective or shoot genre films that can indeed – both in technical and narrative terms – measure up to international competition.”

The festival will provide opportunities to enter into a dialogue with film professionals during the entire festival week by the Film Talks (Q&A) and the MasterTalks introduced last year – succinct keynote speeches by professionals of the film industry. This year’s speakers include cult director István Szabó, an Oscar award-winner and Honorary President of the Film Festival Cottbus. 

Balkan cinema is present at Film Festival Cottbus with several new productions.

The Ungiven by Branko Schmidt (Croatia, 2015)

Family Film by Olmo Omerzu (Czech Republic/Germany/Slovenia/France, 2015)

The High Sun by Dalibor Matanic (Croatia/Slovenia/Serbia, 2015)

Three Days in September by Darijan Pejovski (FYROM/Kosovo*, 2015)

Siska Deluxe by Jan Cvitkovic (Slovenia, 2015)

The Island by Ozana Nicolau (Romania, 2015, 21΄)

Little Houses by Matjaz Ivanisin & Darko Sinko (Slovenia, 2014)

Logbook_Serbistan by Zelimir Zilnik (Serbia, 2015)

Dad by Vlado Skafar (Slovenia, 2010)

9:06 by Igor Sterk (Slovenia, 2009)

Honey Night by Ivo Trajkov (FYROM/Slovenia/Czech Republic, 2015)

One Floor Below by Radu Muntean (Romania/France/Germany/Sweden, 2015)

Cure, The Life Of Another by Andrea Staka (Croatia/Switzerland/Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2014)

Snow by Ventsislav Vasilev (Bulgaria/, 2015)

Father by Visar Morina (Germany/Kosovo*/France/FYROM, 2015)

The World Is Mine by Nicolae Constantin Tanase (Romania, 2015)

The Kids From Marx And Engels Street by Nikola Vukcevic (Montenegro/Slovenia, 2014)

The Sky Above Us by Marinus Groothof (Netherlands/Serbia/Belgium/Greece, 2014)

Bread And TV by Georgi Stoev (Bulgaria, 2013)

One Day In Sarajevo by Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnia-Herzegovina/Croatia, 2015)

Our Everyday Life by Ines Tanovic (Bosnia-Herzegovina/Slovenia/Croatia, 2015)

The Magic Mountain by Anca Damian (Romania/France/Poland, 2015)

Under The Cover by Nejra Latic Hulusic & Sabrina Begovic (Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2015)

In other events, the Connecting Cottbus – East West Co-production Market will provide an opportunity to its roughly 150 participants to present new feature film ideas, initiate co-productions between Eastern and Western Europe and discuss current trends in the European film industry. This year, the industry forum will launch #FEEDback, a think tank in cooperation with the Transilvania International Film Festival and When East Meets West that will address topics such as digital single market territories, VOD platforms or the use of new social media. 

10 feature film projects from 10 countries will be presented this year to potential European co-production partners and compete for a number of awards. Five of these projects, come from countries from the region.

1985 by Bogdan Muresanu (Romania)

The Son by Ines Tanovic (Bosnia-Herzegovina)

Domino Effect by Radoslav Pavkovic & Christina Hadjicharalambous (Serbia)

Sugar Kid by Igor Ivanov (FYROM)

Menopause by Tonia Mishiali (Cyprus)

Beside its films program, the festival will present a varied supporting programme with concerts, exhibitions, readings and festival parties provides entertainment beyond the cinema seat.