20/09/2023 - The line-up includes new projects by Damian Kocur, Vesela Kazakova, Filip Heraković, Szilárd Bernáth, Ignas Jonynas, Keko Chelidze and Simon Mozgovyi

Director Damian Kocur, who has been selected with La Manche (© La Biennale di Venezia/Foto ASAC/G Zucchiatti)

The connecting cottbus (coco) East-West co-production market has announced the projects selected for its 25th-anniversary edition, set to run from 8-10 November. Since coco’s inception in 1999, well over half of the projects presented have been completed, and almost 70% of those have had an A-list festival premiere.

The feature-film projects that will be pitched at coco 2023 come from 15 countries in wider Eastern Europe. The selection of projects in development (cocoPITCH) features debuts by up-and-coming directors as well as new work by established filmmakers, such as Poland's Damian Kocur (qualified based on winning the Best Director Award for Bread and Salt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damian Kocur
film profile] at last year's festival), Bulgaria's Vesela Kazakova (Cat in the Wall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova
film profile]), Croatia's Filip Heraković (Pelican [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Filip Heraković
film profile]) and Hungary's Szilárd Bernáth (Larry).

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The varied selection mixes magical realism, political allegory, drama and dramedy, where protagonists struggle with their family history and personal identity, and have to navigate a profoundly changed status quo around them. Main characters range from control freaks to Uber drivers, a deaf-blind couple and a supposedly gay altar boy.

This year’s cocoWIP selection of works in progress comprises intimate stories about female coming of age and trauma. Dystopian sci-fi can be found alongside a deadpan slacker comedy and a suspenseful smuggling thriller. Among the projects are the new films by Lithuania's Ignas Jonynas (Invisible [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ignas Jonynas and Kristupas…
film profile], The Gambler [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ignas Jonynas
film profile]), Georgia's Keko Chelidze (Dead Souls’ Vacation) and Ukraine's Simon Mozgovyi (Salt from Bonneville [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]).

Producers, sales agents, commissioning editors and other industry representatives active in East-West European co-production can apply to attend without a project until 6 October.

Here is the full list of coco 2023 projects:

cocoPITCH projects

A Leg - Shokir Kholikov (Kazakhstan)
Producer: Aigerim Satybaldy
Production company: A Films

At Your Service - German Golub (Estonia)
Producers: Evelin Penttilä, Johanna Maria Paulson
Production company: Stellar Film

Ballad of the Skeleton - Murat Uğurlu (Turkey)
Producer: Ilgım Coşar
Production companies: Rubikon Film, Monday Film

Excavators - Argyro Nicolaou (Cyprus/USA) - MIDPOINT - coco Award (MIDPOINT Feature Launch)
Producers: Constantinos Nikiforou, Minos Papas 
Production companies: Caretta Films; Cyprian Films, New York

Honeymoon - Zhanna Ozirna (Ukraine)
Producer: Dmytro Sukhanov 
Production company: Toy Cinema

La Manche - Damian Kocur (Poland) - Special Pitch Award FilmFestival Cottbus
Producers: Anna Gawlita, Marta Szymanowska 
Production company: Kijora Film

MATHER - Anguelina Rangelova, Vesela Kazakova (Bulgaria)
Producers: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova, Ivelina Pavlova
Production companies: Activist 38, Doni Mont

My World Upside Down - Daniel Rihák (Slovakia/Germany)
Producers: Martina Saková, Daniel Rihák
Production companies: WHAT IF Films, Projector23

Night Waves - Filip Heraković (Croatia)
Producers: Tamara Babun, Matija Drniković 
Production company: Wolfgang & Dolly

PYRRHIC - Cosmin Nicolae (Romania) - Transilvania Pitch Stop - coco Award
Producers: Velvet Moraru, Ioana Moraru
Production company: Icon Production

Resonance - Yordan Petkov (Bulgaria/Greece)
Producers: Vanya Rainova, Victoria Mitreva, Rossitsa Valkanova, Mina Dreki
Production companies: Portokal, Garti Films, Klas Film, Marni Films

Tactile Universe - Szilárd Bernáth (Hungary)
Producer: András Muhi
Production company: FocusFox

The Fourth Way - Sasha Kulak (Germany/Uzbekistan/France)
Producers: Julia Shaginurova, Louis Beaudemont
Production companies: Einbahnstraße Productions, SESTRA Films, Les Steppes Productions

cocoWIP projects

Borderwall - Ignas Jonynas (Lithuania)
Producer: Ruta Adelė Jekentaitė
Production company: Baltic Productions

Chrysanthemum Day - Simon Mozgovyi (Ukraine/Netherlands)
Producers: Daryna Zakharova, Artem Koliubaiev, Alex Chepiga, Annemiek van der Hell
Production companies: Mainstream Pictures, Windmill Film

Ink Wash - Sarra Tsorakidis (Romania/Greece)
Producers: Anca Puiu, Nikos Moustakas
Production companies: Mandragora, Bad Crowd

No More - Keko Chelidze, Kote Kalandadze (Georgia)
Producer: Elene Margvelashvili
Production company: Parachute Films

On the Water Surface - Zeynep Köprülü (Turkey/Germany)
Producers: Utku Zeka, Okan Üzey, Paulina Toenne
Production companies: Periferi Film, Kalavara Film, Tamtam Film

Wet Monday - Justyna Mytnik (Poland/Czech Republic/Estonia)
Producers: Marta Gmosińska, Jakub Kostal, Marianne Ostrat
Production companies: Lava Films, Bionaut, Aleksandra Film