press releases
18. November 2009
Connecting Cottbus 2009: 14 feature film ideas successfully pitched to 150 interested visitors from 20 countries!
This year was the 11th time that the invitation went out again to Come and pitch it! A total of 14 promising projects were pitched to an audience of European professionals in order to find partners for their realisation. 150 visitors from 20 countries followed the varied presentations. This edition of Connecting Cottbus was, above all, one dominated by the directors. Bogdan Mustafa's short A GOOD DAY FOR A SWIM had won, among others, the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2008. Lazlo Nemes' short WITH A LITTLE PATIENCE is currently nominated for the European Film Award, and Saulius Drunga won the MEDIA New Talent Award for his last project. Javor Gardev made his directorial debut with the successful Bulgarian film ZIFT. Michal Rogolski has won a number of prizes for his last feature film THE LAST ACTION in Poland. And then there was the internationally renowned Hungarian director Ibolya Fekete who presented her new project MOM AND OTHER LOONIES OF THE FAMILY at Connecting Cottbus. The Uzbek director Saodat Ismailova had already found a German production partner in Benny Drechsel of Rohfilm for her project FORTY DAYS OF SILENCE and participated in the Atelier of the 2009 Cinéfondation in Cannes with this film.
Benny Drechsel, Rohfilm, on Connecting Cottbus: „This year again saw Cottbus being a crucial date in our already very international festival calendar. The fact that we are able to present our Uzbek co-production "Forty Days Of Silence" was fantastic and will help us to realise the project soon. The atmosphere of Connecting Cottbus is unique and those really special projects can profit from this!“
The CoCo Best Pitch Award 2009 went to the Croatian project NIGHT BOATS, a romantic melodrama about the last amorous adventures of two residents from an old people's home. The professional and moving presentation by the producer Darija Kulenović Gudan and her colleague Petar Milic from the company Studio dim and the award-winning documentary filmmaker Igor Mirković, who had developed his feature film project further at ScripTeast, convinced the audience. The Award includes a voucher for script doctoring to the value of 3,000 €. The prize is donated by EastWest Filmdistribution.
The One-to-One-Meetings were intensively used again this year. The participants had the opportunity in 20-minute individual conversations to go into more depth about the projects. Artistic director Gabriele Brunnenmeyer: „We also succeeded this year in combining utmost professionalism with a very personal atmosphere. The 14 film pitches showed a surprising spectrum of personal styles. The interest of the producers and financiers was correspondingly high: 104 meetings took place. We can therefore expect to see many projects from this edition being realised.“
The accompanying programme of Connecting Cottbus opened with the panel Co production in the course of time. This addressed the question of what role coproductions have played in the development of the national film industries after the fall of the Wall and how their status for the future is regarded in the individual countries. Leading representatives of European funding institutions such as Roberto Olla (Eurimages), Alexander Donev (NFC Bulgaria), Miroljub Vuckovic (Film Center Serbia), Sanja Ravlic (Croatian Audivisual Centre), Tamás Joó (Filmunio Hungary), offered their assessment of the developments in the national film industries. The initiators Kirsten Niehuus (Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg), Jacek Fuksiewicz (Polish Film Institute) and Manfred Schmidt (MDM) presented the German-Polish Co-Development Fund as a concrete example of a successful cross-border cooperation. The conclusion: apart from the necessity of co-productions for the financing of films, these structures are and remain an important instrument for showing these films to a larger international audience and thus achieving better exploitation.
Another panel was held in cooperation with the newly established Friends of the German-Russian Film Academy assocation. In Lost in translation? Co production with Russia on the second day of Connecting Cottbus, Kirsten Niehuus (Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg), Simone Baumann (German Films), Alexander Mindadze (director), Dimitri Efremov (Passenger), Lydia Antonova (Passenger) and Matthias Esche (Bavaria Film ) discussed the possibilities for German-Russian co-productions despite the absence of a ratified German-Russian Film Treaty. The extent of the desire for cooperation between the two countries was shown by the project THAT SATURDAY by the Russian screenwriter and director Alexander Mindadze, a love story set against the backdrop of the catastrophe of Chernobyl. The German co-producer Bavaria Film and the Russian production company Passenger are confident about completing the film in time for the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl in 2011.
The panel Focus CoCo looked back on the progress of projects which had been pitched at Connecting Cottbus in previous years. A special focus was directed on the Serbian project TILVA ROSH, dir: Nikola Lezaic and the Bulgarian project TILT, dir: Viktor Chouchov, both are projects currently in postproduction. While the project of Film House Kiselo Dete was shot with Serbian money, the Bulgarian production company Chouchkov Brothers found a German co-production partner in the Weimar-based Ostlicht Filmproduktion as well as support from MDM and Eurimages. Both projects showed their first trailers and also demonstrated the filmmakers' attachment to Connecting Cottbus. Borislav Chouchkov: „We are all children of CoCo, and like every child, we always like to come home again.“
Connecting Cottbus was held - as in previous years - within the framework of FilmFestival Cottbus: Roland Rust, director of FilmFestival Cottbus, referred in his opening speech to the success of Connecting Cottbus as a mediator of business and artistic contacts and the growing number of projects initiated by CoCo which are now reaching the festival programme each year. The idea for a East-West co-production market as part of the FilmFestival came about 11 years ago.
Connecting Cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the MEDIA Programme of the European Union and MDM/Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung. The organiser of Connecting Cottbus is pool production GmbH. The partners of Connecting Cottbus are the Robert Bosch Foundation, MEDIA Antenna Berlin Brandenburg, CineLink, EAVE, the Moscow Co-production Forum and the Nipkow Programme in Berlin.
Press contact:
kainz+hamm filmcontact, Julia Kainz, Marienburger Str. 36, 10405 Berlin
Tel. +49 30 27908700; Fax +49 30 27908795, juliakainz@filmcontact.de
September 29, 2009
Connecting Cottbus presents 14 new feature film ideas
The East-West co-production market Connecting Cottbus will be held for the 11th time from 12 -13 November, 2009 during the FilmFestival Cottbus.
As a meeting place for an active producers' network from more than 22 countries, Connecting Cottbus has concentrated on the initiation of co-productions between Eastern and Western Europe. 13 promising projects were selected in September out of more than 50 submissions from 21 countries to be presented in November to an audience of European professionals in order to find partners for a successful realisation. A 14th project will be presented as a Special Pitch.
The jury is composed of representatives from Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM), Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg (RBB), the Nipkow Programme, MEDIA Antenna Berlin Brandenburg and German Films.
The selected projects offer a rich diversity of small, personal stories through to historical or political subjects. There are tragic and comic-satirical moments, big emotions, cold observations - and cows that are more human than humans! The selected directors not only have their own particular style, but can also furnish evidence of their first successes at international festivals, while the co-production market can also benefit from the production companies' experiences in their respective countries (all projects at www.connecting-cottbus.de).
Gabriele Brunnenmeyer, artistic director of Connecting Cottbus: Many interesting projects were submitted this year and it wasn't easy to make the selection. However, we have a winning mixture and we are really looking forward to the reactions of the participating producers and financiers.
The pitching session will be opened on November 12, 2009 by the winner of the CoCo Special Pitch Award 2008, a prize underscoring the synergies between the film festival and the co-production market by enabling the main prize-winner of the FilmFestival Cottbus to pitch their next project at Connecting Cottbus the following year. This year will see the Kira Saksaganskaya (producer) and Alexey Uchitel (director) presenting the idea for a lyrical comedy with "Lilliputians".
2009 will once again see the participants of Connecting Cottbus competing for the CoCo Best Pitch Award. The Development Award has a cash prize of 3,000 Euro and is donated by EastWest Filmdistribution from Vienna. All of the 14 projects presented in Cottbus are automatically in the running for this prize. The best pitch is voted on by the professional audience following the event, and the winner of the Award is announced during an evening reception by Medienboard and MDM.
Connecting Cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the MEDIA Programme of the European Union and Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung. Connecting Cottbus is organised by pool production GmbH.
The partners of Connecting Cottbus are Robert Bosch Stiftung, MEDIA Antenna Berlin Brandenburg, CineLink, EAVE - European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs, the Moscow Co-production Forum, and the Nipkow Programme in Berlin.
Interested film professionals can still register up to 9 October, 2009. Further information at www.connecting-cottbus.de
February 10, 2009
Prizes and VIPs at the Berlinale reception of FilmFestival Cottbus
On Wednesday, February 11, 2009, the FilmFestival Cottbus together with Connecting Cottbus will be hosting its annual East European Brunch at the Federal Office of the State of Brandenburg in Berlin on the occasion of the 59th Berlin International Film Festival.
The reception is a familiar and popular kickoff for the next festival edition and an established East-West industry meeting for the film and media world gathered in the capital at the Berlinale.
Together with Kirsten Niehuus, managing director of the festival’s main supporter Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH, festival director Roland Rust will be welcoming the guests and provide information about the 19th FilmFestival Cottbus (10.-15.11.2009). Apart from the two competitions for Feature Films and Short Features, the Focus will be on New Cinema from the Black Sea. The Retrospective is dedicated to the “Times of Change” from more than 20 years ago, while the Russian Day will again present highlights of the year from the most important film land in Eastern Europe.
During the event, the Distribution support Prize „From Cottbus to Cinema “ will be presented by Kirsten Niehuus to Wulf Sörgel, managing director of Neue Visionen Filmverleih. Neue Visionen will use this support to release the audience favourite of the 18th festival edition, the Czech production COUNTRY TEACHER, theatrically.
Moreover, the Promotion Prize of the DEFA Foundation will be presented at the reception. Director Christian Schwochow will receive the Euros 4,000 award for his debut film NOVEMBER CHILD, the closing film of the 18th Cottbus festival, from the hands of Helmut Morsbach, the board member of the DEFA Foundation.
A prize-winner of the 19th edition has already been named for the Promotion Prize of the GWFF (Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten). Gerti Müller-Ernstberger, managing director of GWFF, will present a scholarship worth 4,500 Euros to Vladimer Katcharava from Georgia. This prize enables the young film producer from this year’s focus region to undertake a study visit at a film school abroad.
In addition, a cooperation agreement between the FilmFestival Cottbus and the Film & Television Academy (HFF) “Konrad Wolf” Potsdam-Babelsberg will be concluded during the reception. The agreement will be signed by Jörg Ackermann, managing director of the festival organiser pool production GmbH, and the president of the HFF, Professor Dieter Wiedemann. This will enable the longstanding collaboration to be expanded and intensified further.
Connecting Cottbus, also present at the East European Brunch, brings filmmakers together from East and West and, through a stable network, offers co-productions with Eastern Europe the possibility to find partners for feature film projects beyond national borders. The regional focus of the 11th East West Co-production Market - (12.-13.11.2009) is dedicated - similarly to that of this year’s festival - to the Black Sea region.
The Russian director Alexey Uchitel – who was the main prize-winner at last year’s Cottbus festival with CAPTIVE and thus also the winner of the "CoCo Special Pitch Award" - will have an opportunity during Connecting Cottbus 2009 to present his new project to the audience of professionals.
The fact that Cottbus has established itself as a starting point for internationally successful film projects is currently shown by the production THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD by the Romanian Radu Jude. The film, which is being shown in this year’s Forum at the Berlinale, came out of a project which was pitched in Cottbus two years ago.
November 14, 2008
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Come and pitch it!: Jubilee edition of Connecting Cottbus with 14 exciting projects, 140 interested visitors and many new contacts
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The 10th Connecting Cottbus demonstrated one thing above all: there is a functioning network of filmmakers from Eastern Europe and Germany. Many new faces from 13 countries came to Cottbus to present their latest projects and find partners for the realisation. During the public pitchings, they received feedback from colleagues from many countries - including those from outside of Eastern Europe - , with some of them being long-standing visitors to the East-West co-production market. more
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October 6, 2008
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10 Years of Connecting Cottbus - The East-West co-production market stands today for lively exchanges and successful European co-productions
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It all began back in 1999 with an intensive exchange of experiences between German and East European film-makers at the FilmFestival Cottbus.
Partnerships enduring through to this day had already begun developing here before the EU accession of many East European countries. In the 10th year of its existence Connecting Cottbus now ranks among the established and recognised co-production markets in Europe. Particular emphasis is still placed on the initiation and support of co-productions between East and West Europe. An active network has since been created between producers from more than 22 countries, and this is to be extended yet further at the jubilee edition of Connecting Cottbus 2008.
Gabriele Brunnenmeyer, artistic director of Connecting Cottbus: „The concept of Connecting Cottbus has worked. From the outset, we found it exciting to bring film-makers together from East and West. Today, Connecting Cottbus offers, above all, a stable network for co-productions with Eastern Europe. We have ourselves gained a lot of experience through the intensive collaboration with the various countries and we are pleased to place this at the disposal of our guests.“
This year will see 14 new feature film projects from 13 countries looking for partners for the further development and financing of their story ideas - and offering a range of subjects and ideas which will make for a varied pitching session. Contemporary stories like the drama Before and After, which ventures a new look at Moldova's recent history, the allegorical story about a circus bear The Bear from Romania, or the project of the Berlin-based company Polyphon Easter goes Polish, which portrays German-Polish sensitivities as a turbulent tragicomedy. The Lithuanian project Midsummer Night follows two young men in their scurrilous attempt not to leave the straight and narrow, the Estonian project Nights of Pilots is the story of bomber pilots who have missed the end of the Second World War. Gram of Love from Slovenia tells of a little girl's longing for a perfect family, the Latvian project Tiger about a tank that is supposed to improve the quality of life, and the Romanian tragicomedy Adalbert’s Dream casting an amusing look back at the time of Communism. The Hungarian project Rundown discovers horror in the seemingly intact neighbourhood, Austria is the source of the clever 70s drama Stopover, and Serbia is represented by Tilva Rosh, a story of daredevil skating in an isolated mining area.
A project each from England and Israel will be presented for the first time at Connecting Cottbus. The touching story of two brothers, The Coldest Day of Winter, will be coming from Tel Aviv, while Love Is Like Vengeance, the story of a young woman who has to decide between her feelings of revenge and a burgeoning love affair, is being developed in Newcastle. More about the projects can be found at www.connecting-cottbus.de
The pitching session will be opened on November 13, 2008 by the winner of the CoCo Special Pitch Award 2007, a prize underscoring the synergies between the film festival and the co-production market by enabling the main prize-winner of the FilmFestival Cottbus to pitch their next project at Connecting Cottbus the following year. This year will see the Bulgarian director Iglika Triffonova („Investigation“) presenting her brand new project False Witness together with her producer Rossitsa Valkanova (Klas Film).
After the public pitching, Connecting Cottbus will offer participants the chance on November 14 to have intensive one-to-one meetings with potential co-production partners, sales agents, TV commissioning editors and funders.
2008 will once again see the presentation of the CoCo Best Pitch Award, with a cash prize of 3,000 Euro development money. The Development Award is donated by EastWest Filmdistribution from Vienna. All of the 14 projects presented in Cottbus are automatically in the running for this prize. The best pitch is voted on by the professional audience following the presentations.
As in the case of the FilmFestival Cottbus, the Baltic states are also this year's regional focus at Connecting Cottbus. Thanks to a cooperation with the Estonian co-production market Baltic Event, the guests will be able to acquire an up-to-date insight into the situation of the film and television industry in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and also see the most interesting productions from this region at the festival.
Connecting Cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the MEDIA Programme of the European Union and Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung. Connecting Cottbus is organised by pool production GmbH.
Cottbus festival presents itself with reception and film in Karlovy Vary
The 18th FilmFestival Cottbus – Festival of East European Cinema (11.-16.11.2008) will be presenting itself on the occasion of the 43rd edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (04.07.-12.07.2008) with a reception and a festival film in the Bohemian spa town. Together with Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH, one of the main supporters, as well as the East-West Co-production Market Connecting Cottbus, the festival will be inviting representatives of the film industry, press, supporters and friends on Sunday, 6th July 2008, to an East European Brunch at the "Rendez-vous" of the Grandhotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary.
Along with the Medienboard managing director Kirsten Niehuus and Gabriele Brunnenmeyer, Artistic Director of Connecting Cottbus, festival director Roland Rust will welcome the guests and give a preview of the festival's 18th edition. The two competitions for Feature Film and Short Feature will once again present the best talents from throughout the Central and East European region. This year's Focus will look at the „New Cinema from the Baltics“ and be curated by Kornel Miglus, the Film Officer of the Polish Film Institute in Berlin. The cinematographies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will be presented in a broad context by including the neighbouring countries bordering the Baltic Sea. The programme is supported by the Federal Office for Political Education. Apart from the established survey of contemporary filmmaking from our Eastern neighbours, the Retrospective emphasises the film historical aspects. Under the title of „1968 – the Prague Spring and the Aftermath“ , this film sidebar will be dedicated to a caesura in contemporary history that still has an effect to this day. Funded by the DEFA Foundation, the retrospective will be curated by the Berlin-based film journalist Bernd Buder.
The Promotion Prize of the GWFF of the FilmFestival Cottbus - with a purse of Euros 4,500 - will be awarded for the second time during the reception in Karlovy Vary. The managing director of the GWFF Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten mbH München, Gerti Müller-Ernstberger, will present this grant to Marianne Ostrat, a student of the Baltic Film and Media School Tallinn. The prize enables this talent from the focus region of the Baltic States to finance a study visit to a film school outside of her homeland of Estonia. Apart from sponsoring the Promotion Prize, the GWFF has already been committed since 2000 as the donor of the main prize in the feature film competition for Cottbus. At the 18th edition, the GWFF expanded this continuous support with an attractive increase in the prize-money. The endowment of the Main Prize for the Feature Film Competition has risen from the previous Euros 15,000 to Euros 18,000. The prize is awarded in equal parts to the director and the producer of the best feature film. Thanks to the increase in the main prize, the overall value of the prizes at the FilmFestival Cottbus has grown to the record sum of Euros 67,000.
In addition to the traditional reception, the FilmFestival Cottbus is also represented with a film presentation at the 43rd International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary. Cottbus will be showing the socio-critical thriller KREMEN | THE HARD-HEARTED in the A-festival's competitive section „East of the West“. The feature film debut of the Russian director Alexey Mizgirev was shown in the „Spektrum“ of the Cottbus festival in 2007. The screenings in Karlovy Vary take place on 8th and 9th July.
The East West Co-production Market Connecting Cottbus will also be dedicated in its tenth year of existence to the possibilities for development and co-production of European feature film productions. Industry representatives from over 20 Central and East European countries are expected in Cottbus for the annual project pitching. Producers can still apply until 25th July, 2008 for participation in the pitching sessions as part of Connecting Cottbus, accreditations without a project are possible until 03.10.2008. Guidelines and applications forms can be downloaded from www.connecting-cottbus.de .
Two films pitched in Cottbus can be seen in the programme of the Karlovy Vary festival: SVETAT E GOLJAM I SPASENIE DEBNE OTVSJAKADE | THE WORLD IS BIG AND SALVATION LURKS AROUND THE CORNER (dir: Stefan Komandarev, Bulgaria/Germany/Hungary/Slovenia 2008) is showing in „Another View“ and MUZIKA | MUSIC (dir: Juraj Nvota, Slovak Republic/Germany 2007) in the competitive section: „East of the West“.
November 9, 2007
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Connecting Cottbus 2007 -
Over two days, 140 filmmakers, directors, producers and media professionals from 22 countries discussed collaboration on current and future projects.
This was the 9th time that the East-West co-production market Connecting
The winner is the Serbian writer-director Andrijana Stojkovic for The Box, a fatal comedy set in
In the panel "That's The Way..", case studies were presented of Kornel Mundruczo's new feature project Delta, which is currently in postproduction in Hungary and Germany, and Ilya Khrzhanovsky's second feature film Dau, the story of the Russian physicist and Nobel Prize winner Lew Landau, set to begin shooting in spring 2008.
Meanwhile, the panel on the "state of play" for film production in the successor states of former
An indication of the potential and opportunities offered by the new digital distribution channels was given in the panel entitled "Digital - a magic word? Between classical and digital distribution". A keynote by Edition Salzgeber's Björn Koll was followed by the presentation of the online distributor Nowtilus, the French Web-based video-on-demand service Universcine, dedicated to independent production, and the Reelport digital platform which is
There was a very positive response from the participants to the one-to-one meetings which were organised after the pitchings for the first time this year. They offered everyone a chance through personal discussions to take an initial interest sparked after a pitch to a further stage.
The unanimous conclusion of all the speakers and participants at Connecting Cottbus: the international co-production for the European film and television market is not defunct. It is not only the financing which is at the fore, but also the mutual tapping of international markets in the films' distribution.
Connecting Cottbus is held within the framework of FilmFestival Cottbus – Festival of East European Cinema and makes an important contribution each year to bringing partners from Central and
Connecting Cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung MDM and the MEDIA Programme of the European Union in
November 2, 2007
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Considerable interest in Connecting Cottbus 2007 - Film projects from 11 countries lining up to pitch
The East-West co-production market Connecting Cottbus, which will be held for the 9th time on November 8 and 9, 2007, has this year attracted registrations from over 120 accredited participants from 22 countries, including almost 80 film producers.
Connecting Cottbus offers its participants up-to-date insights into the production landscape of the Central and East European countries, the focus countries this year being the successor states of Yugoslavia.
Accompanying panels will be held in addition to the pitching of the projects: „That's The Way: "Dau" and "Delta" - two examples for co-productions“ and „FOCUS Former Yugoslavia - How to make movies today“ will be held on 8 November. On 9 November, a panel is planned on the subject of „Digital - a magic word? - between classical and digital distribution“. For the first time, German distributors and producers will present their business models for new distribution channels via the Internet and discuss them with colleagues from France and Austria. The keynote will be given by Björn Koll (Edition Salzgeber, Germany).
Gabriele Brunnenmeyer, the artistic director of Connecting Cottbus: „The digital panel is a very interesting interesting discussion platform for us since alternative forms of exploitation are now being looked at particularly for arthouse film projects. There is a lot going on here in the German production landscape as well as with European partners.“
Connecting Cottbus is held within the framework of FilmFestival Cottbus – Festival of East European cinema and makes an important contribution each year to bringing partners from Central and Eastern Europe together with German co-producers and promoting international dialogue. Producers, financiers and sales agents, television commissioning editors, distributors from East and West have the opportunity to get in contact at a very early stage of a project in order to jointly develop story ideas for the European market.
For the first time, there will also be the chance for one-to-one meetings after the pitching session.
Connecting Cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung MDM and the MEDIA Programme of the European Union in Brussels. A further partner is the Nipkow Programme. The organiser of Connecting Cottbus is pool production GmbH.
September 24, 2007
Exciting stories at the 9th East-West co-development market
Connecting Cottbus: Twelve film projects from eleven countries invited to pitch
For the ninth time, producers, screenwriters and directors can look and find partners for the realisation of their film projects at Connecting Cottbus which is being held in Cottbus on November 8 and 9, 2007. Connecting Cottbus offers its participants up-to-date insights into the production landscape of the Central and East European countries, the Focus region this year being the successor states of Yugoslavia.
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Gabriele Brunnenmeyer, artistic director of Connecting Cottbus: „We are pleased about the great interest in Connecting Cottbus and the fact that Cottbus has developed in recent years into an established and popular meeting place for the film industry from East and West.“
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The success stories of the recent editions of Connecting Cottbus include „Klopka – The Trap“ by the Serbian director Srdan Golubovic - a psychological thriller which has garnered success at numerous international festivals and was pitched at Connecting Cottbus in 2004, and the German-Hungarian co-production „Overnight“, pitched at Connecting Cottbus in 2005 and in this year's International Competition at the International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg.
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This year, the jury selected the following twelve projects from 51 entries:
„The Rescued“ from the production company ART ZONE from Bosnia & Herzigovina, director and screenwriter Srdjan Sarenac, the Croatian project „The Other“ by the production company 4 Film Ltd., screenwriter and director Ivona Juka, „The Balletmaster and the Seven Enemies of the People“ by the Estonian production company Film Tower Kuubis, screenwriters Peeter Tammisto & Urmas Vadi, director Jaak Kilmi, „Susa“ from Georgia by the production company Caucasian Filmodrom, screenwriter and director Giorgi Chalauri, the German project „Miss Kosovo“ from the production company Power Cuts Productions, screenwriters Christoph Honegger & Karl-Dietmar Möller-Naß, director Florian Gottschick, „Aglaja – Why the Child is Cooking in the Polenta“ from the Hungarian production company Inforg Studio, screenwriter and director Krisztina Deák, „The Happiest Girl In The World“ by Hi Film Productions from Romania, screenwriters Augustina Stanciu and Radu Jude, director Radu Jude, „How I was Stolen by the Germans“ from Serbia, production company Testament films d.o.o., screenwriter and director Misa Radivojevic, another Serbian project „The Box“ by Jeti Film, screenwriter and director Andrijana Stojkovic, and the Slovak project „English is Easy“ from the production company Nova Prospekt, sro, screenwriter and director Karol Vosatko (and Viliam Klimacek).
For the first time this year, two projects were also invited to the pitch from the Netherlands and Sweden: „And One More Thing“ by the production company D Nerve Production and the Swedish production „Wild Poppies“ by New Horizons Film & TV HB.
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As an innovation this year, Connecting Cottbus is offering the main prize-winner of last year's FilmFestival Cottbus the chance to present their current project as part of the CoCo Special Pitch. Thus, the project „White White World“ by the screenwriter Milena Markovic and director Oleg Novkovic from Serbia, production company West End Productions, have been invited to the pitching session.
Connecting Cottbus is held within the framework of the FilmFestival Cottbus and makes an important contribution each year to building up a network between partners from Central and Eastern Europe with German co-producers and promoting international dialogue. Producers, financiers, sales agents, TV commissioning editors, distributors from East and West have the chance to get in touch from an early stage of a project's development in order to co-develop story ideas for the European market. For the first time, there will also be the possibility for one-to-one meetings after the pitchings.
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Connecting Cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM ) and the MEDIA Programme of the European Union. The organiser of Connecting Cottbus is pool production GmbH.
