COTTBUS: Mellow Mud from debuting Latvian director Remars Vimba and producers Aija Berzina and Alise Gelze of Tasse Film (www.tasse.lv) emerged as one of the strongest contenders at the Connecting Cottbus pitching forum (www.connecting-cottbus.de), generating a full slate of meetings.
COTTBUS: Hungarian producer Judit Stalter of Lakoon Film (www.lakoonfilm.com) and writer/director Attila Till are in development with Kills on Wheels, the first coproduction between Hungary and Denmark
COTTBUS: Kosovo made its first appearance at the Connecting Cottbus (www.connecting-cottbus.de) pitching forum with Three Windows and a Hanging, a dramatic post-war story from leading Kosovo director Isa Qosja.
COTTBUS: Czech producer Jiri Konecny of endorfilm (www.endorfilm.cz) teams up with FAMU (www.famu.cz) trained Slovenian director Olmo Omerzu for his second film shot in the Czech Republic, Family Film.
COTTBUS: Polish director Bartek Konopka, whose imaginative and clever 2009 documentary Rabbit a la Berlin received an Oscar nomination, presented his new project The Mute at the 2012 edition of Connecting Cottbus (www.connecting-cottbus.de).
COTTBUS: Following the success of Punk’s Not Dead which won the East of the West award at the 2011 Karlovy Vary IFF (www.kviff.com), Macedonian director Vladimir Blazevski and Punk Film (www.punkfilm.mk) producer Darko Popov reteam with the black comedy Freedom or Death, pitched at Connecting Cottbus (www.connecting-cottbus.de).
COTTBUS: Serbian star Mirjana Karanovic (When Father Was Away on Business, Grbavica) will make her writing and directing debut with a post-Yugoslav war film A Good Wife.
COTTBUS: Turkish writer/director Senem Tüzen will make her feature film debut with Motherland, a struggle between a traditionalist mother and daughter, who moves to the city.
BRATISLAVA: Czech director Milan Cieslar is postproduction with the last work by Czech author Arnost Lustig, the screen adaptation of Lustig’s 1992 novel Colette. The film will be Cieslar’s first English language feature.
COTTBUS: A Russian outpost in northern Kyrgyzstan is the setting for a U.K. produced black comedy about three punks who, unwittingly steal a statue of a Russian icon, Lenin?!
