The co-production market “Connecting Cottbus”, taking place in the scope of this year’s East European Cinema Festival in Cottbus in November, announced a selection of projects that were given the opportunity to present themselves and compete for awards. Montenegrin-Serbian co-production “Forever Hold Your Peace”, directed by Ivan Marinović is among the thirteen selected projects in the development phase.
“Forever Hold Your Peace”, a project of production companies Adriatic Western (MNE) and Sense Production (SRB), was previously supported by the Film Centre of Montenegro at the competitions for script and project development. Additionally, the project received special recognition at the CineLink Co-production Market 2019 within the framework of Sarajevo Film Festival and won the Krzysztof Kieslowski ScripTeast Award for script during the Cannes Film Festival.
“Connecting Cottbus” (CoCo), which will organize its 21st edition this year, is intended to showcase projects whose authors are from East Europe, or projects that are otherwise related to this field. From 6-8 November, “Connecting Cottbus” will present new feature films in development and production phase to the audience, potential partners and sales agents. As indicated earlier, 13 selected projects in development phase (COCOPITCH) and 6 selected in production phase (COCOWIP) from 14 Eastern European countries will be shown at this year’s edition, in the scope of pitching.
All projects compete for different awards aiming to encourage the work of selected auteurs and producers, as well as to affirm the work done so far.
This year’s edition of the East European Film Festival in Cottbus will be marked by the screening of the film “Sin”, directed by Ines Tanović – co-production of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Romania and Montenegro, which opened the Sarajevo Film Festival this year.
Selection for COCOPITCH 2019 is presented below:
- ABOUT A GIRL | Switzerland / Romania | dir: Ruxandra Zenide |
prod: Alexander Iordachescu | Elefant Films - ATHLETE | Turkey | dir: Semih Gülen & Mustafa Emin Büyükcoşkun |
prod: Arda Çiltepe | Vigo Film - Transilvania Pitch Stop – coco Award
CARBON | Moldavia | dir: Ion Borș | prod: Ion Borș, Sergiu Cumatrenco Jr. |
Kantora Film Production, YOUBESC - CONVENIENCE STORE | Russia | dir: Mikhail Borodin |
prod: Artem Vassiliev | Metrafilms - FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE | Montenegro, Serbia | dir: Ivan Marinović |
prod: Marija Stojanović, Ivan Marinović | Adriatic Western, SENSE Production - NO LAND FOR ME | Israel | dir: Ram Nehari |
prod: Yifat Prestelnik | Yifat Prestelnik Films - Midpoint – coco Award (Midpoint Feature Launch)
RATTLESNAKES | Serbia | dir: Nikola Ljuca |
prod: Nikolina Vučetić-Zečević, Maja Ilić | Biberche - SPAS | Ukraine | dir: Maksym Nakonechnyi |
prod: Yelizaveta Smith, Darya Bassel | Tabor Production - Special Pitch Award FilmFestival Cottbus
THREE, SEVEN, ACE | Russia | dir: Sergey Dvortsevoy |
prod: Sergey Dvortsevoy | Kinodvor - TRACES | Croatia | dir: Dubravka Turić |
prod: Ira Cecić | Kinorama - VESPER SEEDS | Lithuania | dir: Kristina Buožytė & Bruno Samper |
prod: Asta Liukaityte, Daiva Jovaišiene, Kristina Buožytė | Natrix
Natrix - WET MONDAY | Poland | dir: Justyna Mytnik |
prod: Marta Gmosińska | Lava Films - YOU ARE THE UNIVERSE | Ukraine | dir: Pavlo Ostrikov |
prod: Vladimir Yatsenko, Anna Sobolevska | LimeLite
Selection for COCOWIP 2019 is presented below:
- BETWEEN TWO DAWNS | Turkey / Romania | dir: Selman Nacar |
prod: Burak Çevik, Diloy Gülün, Oana Giurgiu | Kuyu Film, Karma Film, Hai Hui Entertainment - BLINDFOLD | Ukraine | dir: Taras Dron |
prod: Valeria Sochyvets | Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema - CELTS | Serbia | dir: Milica Tomović |
prod: Vladimir Vasiljevic | EED Productions - MIA MISSES HER REVENGE | Romania | dir: Bogdan Theodor Olteanu |
prod: Anamaria Antoci, Anda Ionescu | Tangaj Production - POPPY FIELD | Romania | dir: Eugen Jebeleanu |
prod: Velvet Moraru | Icon Production - THE THRILLSEEKERS | Belarus | dir: Vlada Senkova |
prod: Larisa Oleinik, Viktar Labkovich | DOKA, Pervaja Kinovideo Company