A total of 29 films will compete in the festival's three competitions: ten in the Feature Film Competition, 13 in the Short Film Competition and six in the newly launched GenNext Competition. The new competition presents films by young directors exploring the everyday lives and experiences of teenagers and young adults. Their stories address friendships put to the test, the struggle against prejudice and the desire to forge one's own path, even in the face of family and societal expectations. The FFC will award prizes worth a total of approximately €52,000.
The 36th FilmFestival Cottbus will open on 3 November at the Staatstheater Cottbus with ESCAPE NET by Dzintars Dreibergs. Set in Soviet-era Riga, the Latvian drama tells the story of basketball player Dzidra Uztupe, who fights to pursue her sporting career while her brother's life in exile casts political suspicion on the family and brings her under KGB surveillance.
From Established Masters to New Discoveries
Cottbus Masters presents new works by established figures of Central and Eastern European cinema. Cristian Mungiu, one of the leading voices of the Romanian New Wave and a Palme d'Or winner at Cannes, returns with FJORD. Other highlights include Šarūnas Bartas with BACK TO THE FAMILY and Władysław Pasikowski's darkly humorous thriller OPERATION POPE, about a planned assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II. Polish actor Bogusław Linda delivers a standout, self-ironic performance.
Hits showcases box-office successes that have already captivated audiences in their countries of origin. In ON DRIVE, street racers speed through Kharkiv, THE WEDDING turns a Croatian-Serbian wedding into a turbulent political family comedy, and THE SON OF REVENGE: THE STORY OF KALEVALA brings Finland's Kalevala epic to the big screen as a fantasy adventure.
Spectrum explores contemporary lives and social developments, sometimes seriously, sometimes humorously, across a wide range of genres. POST TRUTH by Alkan Avcıoğlu is generated entirely using AI and traces the history of disinformation and fake news back to the Middle Ages. In doing so, it raises the question of what can still be considered reality in an increasingly manipulated media landscape. The Polish comedy HOW TO SURVIVE THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS takes a more down-to-earth approach, following families on a shared camping holiday as domestic life and well-meaning friendships spiral increasingly out of control.
In EcoEast, seven feature films, documentaries and animated works explore the relationship between humans and nature, as well as the consequences of economic interests taking precedence over the environment and natural habitats. AYDINLAR – WHERE THE WORLD ENDS, for example, takes audiences to the almost vanished Aral Sea, where children play among shipwrecks. BALTIC UXO examines another ecological legacy: approximately 1.6 million tonnes of ammunition were dumped in the Baltic and North Seas after the Second World War. The documentary reveals the danger that continues to lurk beneath the surface.
For the youngest audiences, Kids Cinema presents three films: BORN IN THE JUNGLE takes viewers into the Venezuelan rainforest, while EXTRAORDINARY follows a group of young detectives searching for their missing parents. In the fairy-tale film THE PRINCESS OF GLASS, Hans, who is deaf, sets out to rescue an imprisoned princess. On the festival's final Sunday, the film will also be screened in a version featuring German Sign Language (DGS). Lead actor and Short Film Competition juror Jason Giuranna will attend the screening in Cottbus for a discussion afterwards.
The programme also includes the previously announced special focuses Close-Up: Latvia, featuring 14 films, View from the Black Mountain: Montenegro Special, the transformation-themed series Transformation without End?, Heimat | Domownja | Domizna, and Don't Call Me Vintage!, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Andrzej Wajda's birth.
New: The FFC Compass Guides Audiences Through the Programme
The new FFC Compass offers audiences an additional way to navigate the festival's film selection for the first time. Moving beyond countries and programme sections, it brings together thematic recommendations. The inaugural edition features two categories: Crime Nights and Popcorn Cinema.
Crime Nights recommends a crime film or thriller for every evening of the festival. Highlights include THE BOG, in which a decades-old murder case turns a village community against the investigating police officer, and an exclusive preview screening of POLIZEIRUF 110: STALKER.
Popcorn Cinema promises entertainment at its best. The selection includes the Oscar-winning animated adventure FLOW and the dark Slovak comedy INVALID, in which two friends devise an outrageous revenge plot against the mafia in the turbulent 1990s. In future festival editions, the Compass will continue to offer fresh ways of exploring the programme, with changing thematic categories.
From 15 October: Plan Your Festival and Secure Your Tickets
The complete programme, including all films, screening times and events, will be available from 15 October at filmfestivalcottbus.de. The new festival website allows visitors to filter the programme by section, date and venue. Films and events can also be saved to a personal Watchlist and combined into an individual festival schedule.
Ticket sales will begin on the same day. Advance tickets cost €7.50 for a single screening, while a five-ticket pass is available for €30 and the Festival Pass for €85.
Special offers are available for younger festivalgoers: school pupils can attend all GenNext Competition screenings free of charge upon presentation of a valid school ID. On Wednesday, 4 November, the festival will host its Student Day for the second time. Students with a valid student ID can attend all FFC film screenings free of charge on that day.
36th FilmFestival Cottbus
3–8 November 2026
filmfestivalcottbus.de
The FilmFestival Cottbus receives substantial funding from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the City of Cottbus. We are also very grateful for the support of Creative Europe MEDIA, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Sparkasse Spree-Neiße and the Federal Agency for Civic Education. Our media partners are radioeins and radio3.
The GenNext Competition is presented by IHK Cottbus. EcoEast is presented by Stadtwerke Cottbus. Close-Up: Latvia is funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb). Transformation without End? is funded by the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany. Heimat | Domownja | Domizna is supported by the Foundation for the Sorbian People. Don't Call Me Vintage! is funded by the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation and supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute; partners include the Wajda School and Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. Kids Cinema is organised in cooperation with the SCHLiNGEL International Film Festival and supported by Gebäudewirtschaft Cottbus GmbH (GWC).
