In this year’s annual pitching event on November 8, 13 projects from 12 countries will be pitched to potential co-production partners. The jury with representatives from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, MEDIA Antenne Berlin-Brandenburg, German Films, the RBB, the MDR, the Nipkow-Program and connecting cottbus selected the line-up out of a pool of 83 submissions from 29 countries. The selection covers a wide range of genres from social drama to thriller, from close daily observations to sarcastic political satire.
With The Storyteller, Angelina Nikonova will present her new eagerly awaited project. The most recent film of the Russian director, TWILIGHT PORTRAIT, was last year’s winner of FilmFestival Cottbus’s main award and hence also the winner of the coco Special Pitch Award, enabling her to use this year’s edition of connecting cottbus as a platform.
The other pitch projects 2012 cover a vast range, thematically as well as geographically. With the Czech-Slovenian FAMILY FILM, Olmo Omerzu will pitch his current project. The Slovenian-born director’s graduation film „A Night Too Young“ had a successful run at this year’s Berlinale Forum and traveled to numerous other festivals.
Romania is represented by two projects: HOTEL EDEN by Anca Damian („Crulic – The Path to Beyond“) deals with the sense of guilt of a journalist following a stay in Afghanistan. ONE FLOOR BELOW is the new project by Radu Muntean who together with his co-authors Alex Baciu and Razvan Radulescu already found international festival success with his prior films „Boogie“ and „Tuesday after Christmas“.
Two comedies take real existing postsocialism as their starting point. In FREEDOM OR DEATH by Vladimir Blazevski („Punk‘s Not Dead“) a monkey escapes from the zoo and becomes a Macedonian national hero. In the British-Kyrgiz LENIN?! three young punks steal a statue of Lenin in order to sell it without knowing who it is they want to monetize.
THREE WINDOWS AND A HANGING from Kosovo also promises a new perspective. Director Isa Qosja („Kukumi“), known for his image-laden allegories shines a critical light on the masculine sense of honor in the postwar Balkans.
With A GOOD WIFE, Serbian star actress Mirjana Karanovic („Grbavica“) presents her first outing as director that she is developing together with the young director Stevan Filipovic. The psychologically sophisticated marital drama revolves around the consequences of a hidden past.
For the second time this year, all projects are in the running for the coco Post Pitch Award. The prize, goods and services worth EUR 25.000, is conferred by a jury of three film professionals, while the coco Best Pitch Award is given out by all participants in the co-production market.
The co-production market, led by Bernd Buder and Martina Bleis, is framed by panel discussions and workshops concerning current issues in the European film industry. This year’s focus will be on the market situation and alternative marketing strategies for European films.
connecting cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the EU MEDIA Program and MDM / Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung.
Supporting partners of connecting cottbus are MEDIA Antenne Berlin Brandenburg, Universal Publishing Production Music GmbH, Moscow Business Square, ACE, the Nipkow Program Berlin, CineLink Sarajevo und EAVE.
The coco Post Pitch Award 2012 is donated by The Post Republic.
Organizer of connecting cottbus is the FilmFestival Cottbus GmbH.
Projects selected for the coco Pitching 2012:
FAMILY FILM, director: Olmo Omerzu, producer: Jiri Konecny / endorfilm (Czech Republic / Slovenia)
HOUSE OF OTHERS, director/producer: Russudan Glurjidze / Cinetech Production (Georgia)
KILLS ON WHEELS, director: Attila Till, producer: Judit Stalter/ Laokoon Film (Hungary)
THREE WINDOWS AND A HANGING, director: Isa Qosja, producers: Nicole Gerhards / NiKo Film, Shkumbin Istrefi / CMB (Germany/Kosovo)
MELLOW MUD: director: Renars Vimba, producer: Alise Gelze / Tasse Film (Latvia)
FREEDOM OR DEATH, director: Vladimir Blazevski, producer: Darko Popov / Punk Film (Macedonia)
THE MUTE, director: Bartek Konopka, producer: Anna Wydra / Otter Films (Poland)
HOTEL EDEN, director/producer: Anca Damian / Aparte Film (Romania)
ONE FLOOR BELOW, director: Radu Muntean, producer: Dragos Valcu / Multimedia Est (Romania)
A GOOD WIFE, director: Mirjana Karanovic, Stevan Filipovic, producer: Snezana Penev / This and That Productions (Serbia)
MOTHERLAND, director: Senem Tuzen, producers: Olena Yershova / Yeni Sinemacilik (Turkey)
LENIN?!, director: Marat Alykulov, producer: Joanna Bence / Curb Denizen Productions, Oleg Vybolchenko / Kovcheg Films (Great Britain/Kyrgyzstan)
Special Pitch Award:
THE STORYTELLER, director: Angelina Nikonova, producer: Olga Dykhovichnaya / Baraban Films (Russian)
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