COTTBUS: Romanian producer Oana Giurgiu is coproducing Between Two Dawns, a contemporary drama set in Turkey, written and directed by Selman Nacar. The film was presented at the connecting cottbus Works in Progress presentation, which took place 6 – 8 November 2019.

COTTBUS: The Polish film Wet Monday, the feature film debut of Justyna Mytnik, aspires to take the subject of a teenage girl dealing with the trauma of a past rape and turn it into a fantasy drama with comedic elements. The film was pitched at connecting cottbus, 6 – 8 November 2019.

COTTBUS: Poppy Field, presented in connecting cottbus’ Works in Progress section on 7 November 2019, confronts the still-prevalent topic of homophobia in Romania in a tight 24-hour story of a Romanian policeman coming to terms with his sexual identity. 

COTTBUS: Montenegro and Serbia team up on the farcical comedy Forever Hold Your Peace produced by Marija Stojanovic and directed by Ivan Marinovic. The film was pitched at connecting cottbus, 6 – 8 November 2019, ending up with the most requests for one-to-one meetings.

COTTBUS: The Bulgaria/Qatar coproduction Sister / Sestra by Sveta Tsotsorkova won Best Film at the 29th edition of FilmFestival Cottbus, which concluded on 10 November 2019.

COTTBUS: Serbian writer/director Milica Tomovic presented her low-budget film Celts at the connecting cottbus Works in Progress block, which took place 6 – 8 November 2019. The project won the best pitch award in the national selection of the FEST FORWARD at Belgrade's FEST 2019.

COTTBUS: The Romanian/Swiss production company Elefant Films tackles difficult and sensitive subject matter in About a Girl, helmed by Ruxandra Zenide. The film was pitched at connecting cottbus, 6 – 8 November 2019.

COTTBUS: The Moldovan black comedy Carbon won the Best Pitch Award at the 21st edition of the connecting cottbus pitching forum at the awards ceremony on 7 November 2019. The award comes with a cash prize of 1,500 EUR and accreditation to Producers Network at Marche du Film in Cannes 2020. The project from director/producer Ion Bors and producer Sergiu Cumatrenco, jr., had won the coco award at Transilvania Pitch Stop.

COTTBUS: Germany has discovered Poland, and Polish filmmakers are reaching out to German coproductions partners as a result of the Polish-German Film Fund and the new Polish film incentives. Some 40 German and Polish producers and funders, most of them with German/Polish coproduction experience or plans, attended a 7 November 2019 roundtable discussion at connecting cottbus.

COTTBUS: Rising Lithuanian director Kristina Buozyte teams up with French Bruno Samper as writers/directors of an English language sci-fi/coming-of-age film Vesper Seeds, with plans to shoot the 2 m EUR film in late autumn of 2020. The film was pitched at connecting cottbus (6 – 8 November 2019), where it received a special mention for the Avanpost Pitch Packaging Award.