"The vote was surprisingly harmonious", declared jury member Vladimir Burlakov, but admitted: "We agreed on the Main Prize winners immediately, but there was some discussion on the additional prizes, which we could nevertheless resolve by democratic means." The International Festival Jury chose KLASS KORREKTSII | CORRECTIONS CLASS (Russia, Germany 2014) as this year's winner of the Main Prize for Best Film worth 20,000 Euros, donated by the Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten (GWFF). The film is about paraplegic Lena who, as "the new girl", comes to learn how emotionally unstable human relations can be amongst a special class of young people on the edge of society. The jury was particularly impressed by the unsentimental, unpretentious approach to an important social issue by an excellent ensemble of actors.

The Special Prize for Best Director, worth 7,500 Euros and donated by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb), goes to Alexander Kott for his work ISPYTANIE | TEST (Russia 2014). "In his original, somewhat eccentric and visually stunning film the director was able to shed light on a relatively unknown chapter in post-war Soviet history", so declared the jury its decision.

The Award for Outstanding Actress, worth 5,000 Euros and donated by the city of Cottbus, goes to Piroska Molnár for her role in György Pálfi SZABADESÉS | FREE FALL (Hungary, France, South Korea, 2014).

The Award for Outstanding Actor goes to Emir Hadzihafizbegovic in TAKVA SU PRAVILA | THESE ARE THE RULES (Croatia, France, Serbia, Macedonia 2014). This is also endowed with 5,000 Euros, and is donated by the Sparkasse Spree-Neiße.

The International Festival Jury decided in favour of the Kosovar-German co- production TRI DRITARE DHE NJE VARJE | THREE WINDOWS AND A HANGING (2014), which also receives an honourable mention from the Jury of the DIALOGUE Prize for Intercultural Communication. The film project was first presented in 2012 at the co-production market connecting cottbus (coco), receiving the Best Pitch Award. Director Ivan Tverdovsky will also have the pleasure to return to Cottbus: with the award of the Main Prize for Best Film he automatically receives the coco Special Pitch Award 2014 and thus an invitation to present his new project at next year's East-West co-production market.

Winner of the 2,500 Euro Main Prize for a short film is director Daniel Sandu for his contribution CAI PUTERE | HORSEPOWER.

Much applause was given this year at the U 18 German-Polish Youth Film Competition. Six films, three Polish and three German productions, entered the race for the favours of the audience and the bi-national Polish-German student jury. 1,500 Euros, donated by the Chamber of Crafts Cottbus, went to POKA HEISST TSCHÜSS AUF RUSSISCH | GOODBYE (Germany, Kazakhstan 2014), a story that tells of the hard times experienced by "Russo-Germans" shortly after the collapse of Soviet communism.

Following five days of festival the Managing Director of the FilmFestival Cottbus, Andreas Stein, drew a positive balance: "We are really very satisfied. The interest in the cinema of Eastern Europe and in FilmFestival Cottbus is unabated. The high number of visitors speaks for itself and we look with confidence and anticipation to the upcoming anniversary festival next year."

On Sunday, after the Award Ceremony, visitors will once again have an opportunity to enjoy some festival films. The film selected by moviegoers SIMINDIS KUNDZULI | CORN ISLAND (Georgia, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan 2014) will be shown once again at 5.00 pm. Directly afterwards the winner ISPYTANIE | TEST (Russia 2014) will be shown in the Stadthalle. The "Long Night of Short Films" will be repeated at 4.00 pm in the Kammerbühne.

The 24th FilmFestival Cottbus is supported by, among others, the State of Brandenburg, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH, the City of Cottbus, and its first partners Vattenfall and Creative Europe - MEDIA.

Press contact: Katrin Wollnik | Alex Schirmer | Tel +49 355 4310 7 -13 / -14
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