The Lubinas are awarded: two of the major competition prices this year go to Russia. The main prize of 20,000 Euros, donated by the Society for Film and Television Rights (GWFF), goes to Aleksandr Veledinsky for his film THE GEOGRAPHER DRANK HIS GLOBE AWAY. The story of a modern Russian saint won over the International Festival Jury, together with the ability of the director, whose " exquisite mastery of his craft and great playfulness" tipped the scales. The special prize of 7,500 euros for best director donated by the Radio Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb), goes to Yury Bykov for his feature film, THE MAJOR (Russia). The jury praised the intelligently restrained and technically excellent command of kinetic language by the multi-talented filmmaker Bykov, who was also responsible for the film's music as well as playing one of the main roles.
The award for outstanding actress, worth 5,000 Euros and donated by the city of Cottbus, goes to Michaela Bendulová for her role as the 15 -year-old Ela in MIRACLE (Juraj Lehotský, Slovakia / Czech Republic). The jury praised her powerful performance and Bendulová's ability to portray a fragile character with profound sensitivity. The prize for an outstanding Actor goes to Hadžihafizbegović Emir for his performance in CHEFURS OUT! (Goran Vojnović , Slovenia / Croatia), in which he demonstrates great charisma in his role as a father.
The prize for the best youth film in the U18 German - Polish youth film competition, donated by the Cottbus Chamber of Crafts and worth 1,500 Euros, goes to the German feature film by Thomas Sieben, DAM. The bi-national student jury honored the film's balance between "a hard topic and real life situations involving friendship and love." In the Short Film Competition, the contribution by Maria Zbaska, BROTHER DOG stood out. She takes the top prize of 2,500 Euros donated by Druckzone Cottbus. The Special prize of the ABV GmbH BTU-Senftenberg worth 1,000 euros, goes to Nargiza Mamatkulova from Kyrgyzstan for her film SILENCE.
Other winners are the Polish director Bodo Kox, who wins the Debut Film Prize worth 3,000 Euros donated by the Brandenburg Technical University of Cottbus Senftenberg and the "Konrad Wolf" School for Film and Television, for his film THE GIRL FROM THE WARDROBE. The FIPRESCI jury awarded its prize to THE UNSAVED (Romania / Moldova), the first feature film by Igor Cobileanski. The film gives an all rounded vision of life in a provincial town in Moldova while avoiding the cliches of the post-Soviet cinema. The Prize of the Ecumenical Jury of Signis and INTERFILM goes to WITHERING (Miloš Pušić, Serbia / Switzerland). "The film takes us into the depth of a moral dilemma by reflecting upon rural exodus, generational conflict and broken relationships," declared the jury. The enthralling historical drama and this year's opening film, RUN, BOY, RUN (Pepe Danquart, Germany / France) was the public's favorite and won the festival's audience prize worth 3,000 euros, awarded by the Lausitzer Rundschau. The prize, also worth €3,000, for inter-cultural dialogue dialogue, donated by the Foreign Office, goes to the German -Israeli co-production FAREWELL HERR SCHWARZ by Yael Reuveny .
The 23rd Cottbus Film Festival Cottbus ends on Sunday and not only the winners have reason to rejoice: 20,300 people visited the festival this year - a new record attendance! During the past five days the festival has presented 150 films from over 38 countries. The new film series: "Home/ Domownja - Sorbian life in film" played to full houses and provoked lively discussion - as did the "Location Lausitz " special with two evenings of short films by the Cottbus filmmaker and cinematographer Donald Saischowa. Visitors, guests and the press reacted with animation to this year's focus on Sinti and Roma while the Section globalEAST extended our cinematic journey to Australia and New Zealand.
The 24th Cottbus Film Festival will take place from 4 to 9 November 2014.
Press contact:
Jessica Harmuth | Kristina Krause, Tel +49 355 4310 7 -13 / -14 | mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
