The documentary films at the 19th annual One World Festival present the real stories of people affected by the so-called Islamic State. The audience will have the opportunity to look not only into Syria, Iraq and surrounding countries, but also Europe, where refugees are heading, and where there is a political struggle often featuring strong anti-immigrant rhetoric. The festival explores the issues from different points of view: from the perspective of the Islamists and their opponents, civic activists and populists, refugees and policymakers. The unifying feature of these films is the theme of collaboration.

Coming back from Berlinale, where I was attending a lot of events still as coordinator of Prix Lux of the European Parliament, I have to say, that I was often adressed by participants of many different countries on behalf of the actual situation in Croatia in the area of film.

Müller Hall, in Kino Europa (Cinema Europa), was packed on Monday with supporters of the initiative Puk’o nam je film (Croatian slang for ‘We’ve Had Enough’). The aim of the initiative is to protect Croatian cinematography from political influence and control. The initiative is a result of the negative audit conducted by the Croatian State Audit, leading to the resignation of long-time Croatian Audiovisual Centre director Hrvoje Hribar. The goals and key points of the initiative presented by Antonio Nuić, Dana Budisavljević, Nora Krstulović, Goran Navojec and Tamara Babun, highlight the importance of the independence of Croatian film, preserving the autonomy of the existing Croatian audiovisual model and continuity of current practices.

This Wednesday the FilmFestival Cottbus and the East-West co-production market connecting cottbus (coco) celebrated the onset of the new year at the traditional East European Brunch, held to coincide with the Berlinale, within the framework of which two awards were conferred.