Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic a new era has arisen for the whole world, the chapter of creation must remain alive and as strong as ever. The longest-running networking event for film professionals active in East-West co-production, connecting cottbus (coco) will continue to provide a platform for dialogue and exchange to support filmmakers and their projects.
“We are curious to see how stories and content have evolved in the past months; we look forward to your submissions” says connecting cottbus director Marjorie Bendeck. “As much as we would like to meet and embrace each other soon, we must remain attentive to how the situation unfolds. Our team is currently devising an appropriate setting to connect and celebrate Eastern European cinema in November.”
With a high success rate of completed films, previous editions of connecting cottbus included, among others, SERVANTS by Ivan Ostrochovsky (Slovakia/Romania/Czech Republic/Ireland, Berlinale Encounters Competition 2020), ΜΥ THOUGHTS ARE SILENT by Antonio Lukich (Ukraine, Karlovy Vary East of the West Competition 2019 – Special Jury Award), CAT IN THE WALL by Mina Mileva & Vesela Kazakova (Bulgaria/UK/France, Locarno 2019 International Competition), ZANA by Antoneta Kastrati (Kosovo/Albania, Toronto IFF Discovery 2019).
In total, 13 projects in development (cocoPITCH) and 6 works in post-production (cocoWIP) will be selected and presented at connecting cottbus on 4 – 6 November 2020, competing for a variety of sponsored awards.
Producers can submit feature film projects in development (fiction only) for the cocoPITCH
section until 15 July 2020, projects in production or post-production for cocoWIP until 20 August 2020. For both sections projects have to originate in or relate to broader Eastern Europe, or be suitable for East-West co-production. The selections will be announced in early September along with more details on the format of our co-production market.
Producers, sales agents, commissioning editors and other industry representatives can apply without a project until 7 October 2020.
