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18-09-2018

CONNECTING COTTBUS project selection 2018: strong women, lost boyfriends and a leopard

    East-West co-production market connecting cottbus, held during the FilmFestival Cottbus, celebrates its 20th anniversary with a solid line-up of 13 projects in development as well as 6 works in progress.
    The 20th edition of connecting cottbus (coco) on 8-9 November 2018 will again offer producers and film industry professionals the chance to form new partnerships, network and discuss current production trends. A selection of 13 cocoPitch projects and 6 cocoWiP projects from 15 countries in broader Eastern Europe will be presented to a hand-picked audience of co-producers, sales agents and other potential partners. The projects will benefit from the  intensive cocoLab, receiving invaluable feedback from top-level experts, while competing for a variety of awards. Recent coco alumni projects that have been completed this year include Ognjen Glavonic's THE LOAD  (Serbia/France/Croatia/Iran/Qatar) which premiered at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and will screen in the main competition at the FilmFestival Cottbus 2018 alongside YEAR OF THE MONKEY by Vladimir Blazevski (Macedonia/Serbia/Kosovo/Slovenia) and CRYSTAL SWAN by Darya Zhuk (Belarus/United States/Germany/Russia), as well as BREATHING INTO MARBLE by Giedre Beinoriute (Lithuania/Croatia/Latvia) in Spectrum. This year‘s
    cocoPitch line-up ranges from modern chase movie and existentialist drama to crime comedy. The selection comprises fresh and exciting work by seven debut feature film directors as well as new projects by award-winning filmmakers like Nicolae Constantin Tanase or Piotr Domalewski, as well as Anna Jadowska who received the Special Pitch Award FilmFestival Cottbus 2017 to present her new project MIRA. Pre-selected by coco at partnering events were Cristian Pascariu’s OCTOBER, winner of the Transilvania Pitch Stop - coco Award at TIFF 2018, and THE UGLY MANDARINE by Piaoyu Xie, which took the Midpoint - coco Award (Midpoint Feature Launch) at Karlovy Vary 2018.
    The selection of cocoWiP is equally diverse, spanning from absurdist comedy to historical detective story. The six works in progress include debut features by enthralling new talent as well as the latest endeavours by established international directors like Aleksey Fedorchenko and Levan Koguashvili. Rounding off the line-up is coco alumni project NIGHT TIDE by Ismail Safarali from Azerbaijan. For the 20th edition of coco, new director Marjorie Bendeck makes a statement as 15 out of the 19 projects presented in both sections are helmed by either a female producer and/or a female director, and more than half of the narratives centre around a bold female protagonist.
    Thematically, the exploration of family relationships as well as immigration and its many repercussions are common threads throughout the line-up and are dealt with in varied contexts. This year’s edition of connecting cottbus
    takes place on 8-9 November 2018.
    Producers, sales agents, commissioning editors and other industry representatives active in East-West European co-production can apply without a project by 5 October 2018.
    Selected cocoPitch Projects 2018
    9TH STEP
    | Lithuania | dir: Irma Puzauskaite |
    prod: Lukas Trimonis, IN SCRIPT
    ANATOLIAN LEOPARD
    | Turkey | dir: Emre Kayis |
    prod: Olena Yershova, Tato Film
    I NEVER CRY
    | Poland / Ireland | dir: Piotr Domalewski |
    prod: Jan Kwiecinski, Akson Studio
    THE LAST BUS
    | Hungary | dir: Nandor Lorincz & Balint Nagy |
    prod: Monika Mecs, Agnes Pataki, Genoveva Petrovits, M&M Film / Filmpartners
    MEN OF DEEDS
    | Romania | dir: Nicolae Constantin Tanase |
    prod: Anamaria Antoci, Tangaj Production
    Special Pitch Award FilmFestival Cottbus
    MIRA
    | Poland | dir: Anna Jadowska |
    prod: Maria Blicharska, Donten & Lacroix Films
    THE MYTH OF A REAL MAN
    | Serbia | dir: Lee Filipovski |
    prod: Adi Dizdarevic, Dart Film
    Transilvania Pitch Stop - coco Award
    OCTOBER
    | Romania | dir: Cristian Pascariu |
    prod: Oana Giurgiu, Bogdan Craciun, Libra Film Productions
    PARALYSIS
    | Lithuania | dir: Andrius Blazevicius |
    prod: Marija Razgute, M-Films
    PATCHWORK
    | Cyprus | dir: Petros Charalambous |
    prod: Janine Teerling, Marios Piperides, AMP Filmworks
    SPHAGNUM
    | Belarus | dir: Victor Asliuk |
    prod: Valery Dmitrochenko, Denmarsh Film
    Midpoint - coco Award (Midpoint Feature Launch)
    THE UGLY MANDARINE
    | Czech Republic | dir: Piaoyu Xie |
    prod: Veronika Kührova, Michal Kracmer, Analog Vision
    VICTIM
    | Slovak Republic | dir: Michal Blasko |
    prod: Jakub Viktorin, nutprodukcia
    Selected cocoWiP Projects 2018
    BRIGHTON 4
    | Georgia / Monaco / Bulgaria / Russia / USA | dir: Levan Koguashvili |
    prod: Levan Koguashvili, Olena Yershova, Kino Iberica
    GERANIUM
    | Turkey | dir: Cagil Bocut |
    prod: Asli Erdem, Beatrice Films
    LAST DEAR BULGARIA
    | Russia | dir: Aleksey Fedorchenko |
    prod: Andrey Saveliev, Artem Vassiliev, Aleksey Fedorchenko, Dmitriy Vorobyev, SAGa
    MY THOUGHTS ARE SILENT
    | Ukraine | dir: Antonio Lukich |
    prod: Dmitry Sukhanov, Alla Belaya, Toy Cinema
    coco Alumni Project (2017)
    NIGHT TIDE
    | Russia / Azerbaijan | dir: Ismail Safarali |
    prod: Alexander Rodnyansky, Sergei Melkumov Non-Stop Production /
    Maria Ibrahimova, Cinex Productions
    ZANA
    | Kosovo / Albania | dir: Antoneta Kastrati |
    prod: Casey Cooper Johnson, Crossing Bridges Films / Dritan Huqi, On Film Production
    connecting cottbus is funded by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Creative Europe/MEDIA, MDM Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and The State Chancellery of Land Brandenburg. More information: www.connecting-cottbus.de | fb.com/connecting.cottbus
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    Last modified on 18-09-2018