The audience of the 21^st edition of the co-production market Connecting Cottbus, taking place from 6-8 November and focusing on Eastern European cinema, will get to see 13 new projects in development and six works in progress. This time, the projects originate from 14 different countries, including Montenegro – featured in the Spotlight section of the Cottbus Film Festival, making its way onto the market for the very first time. “Connecting Cottbus is constantly in search of fresh gazes from emerging cinematographic countries and exciting debut proposals, while continuously supporting established producers in their endeavours,” underlined director Marjorie Bendeck. “Our selection this year covers a wide palette, including romantic sci-fi, war road movies and political family dramas. The projects disclose engaging views of the Eastern European region. And we embrace that.”

Competing for various awards, as always the participants will take part in feedback sessions with industry experts during the so-called cocoLAB, networking events and a framework programme focusing on current production trends. Not shying away from genre films and explosive topics, this year’s selection will see everything from political thrillers to, as pointed out by Bendeck, a romantic comedy set in outer space. All this while echoing current conversations, such as the need for complex female leads or candid stories about immigration.

This year’s selected cocoWIP and cocoPITCH projects include a rather unusual wedding party (Forever Hold Your Peace), a fantasy-drama set during Easter (Wet Monday), and a scorned woman plotting to make a sex tape (Mia Misses Her Revenge), among many other stories.

Here is the full list of projects:

cocoPITCH

About a Girl - Ruxandra Zenide (Switzerland/Romania)
Production: Alexander Iordachescu for Elefant Film

Athlete - Semih Gülen, Mustafa Emin Büyükcoşkun (Turkey)
Production: Arda Çiltepe for Vigo Film

Carbon - Ion Borș (Moldova) (Transilvania Pitch Stop - coco Award recipient)
Production: Ion Borș, Sergiu Cumatrenco Jr. for Kantora Film Production and Youbesc

Convenience Store - Mikhail Borodin (Russia)
Production: Artem Vassiliev for Metrafilms

Forever Hold Your Peace [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Ivan Marinović
fiche film] - Ivan Marinović (Montenegro/Serbia)
Production: Marija Stojanović, Ivan Marinović for Adriatic Western

No Land for Me - Ram Nehari (Israel)
Production: Yifat Prestelnik for Yifat Prestelnik Films

Rattlesnakes – Nikola Ljuca (Serbia) (Midpoint – Coco Award winner)
Production: Nikolina Vučetić-Zečević and Maja Ilić for Biberche

Spas - Maksym Nakonechnyi (Ukraine)
Production: Yelizaveta Smith and Darya Bassel for Tabor Production

You Are the Universe - Pavlo Ostrikov (Ukraine)
Production: Vladimir Yatsenko and Anna Sobolevska for LimeLite

Three, Seven, Ace - Sergey Dvortsevoy (Cottbus Film Festival’s Special Pitch Award)
Production: Sergey Dvortsevoy for Kinodvor

Traces - Dubravka Turić (Croatia)
Production: Ira Cecić for Kinorama

Vesper Seeds - Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Samper (Lithuania)
Production: Asta Liukaityte, Daiva Jovaišiene and Kristina Buožytė for Natrix Natrix

Wet Monday - Justyna Mytnik (Poland)
Production: Marta Gmosińska for Lava Films

cocoWIP

Between Two Dawns [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Selman Nacar
fiche film] - Selman Nacar (Turkey/Romania)
Production: Burak Çevik, Diloy Gülün and Oana Giurgiu for Kuyu Film, Karma Film and Hai Hui Entertainment

Blindfold - Taras Dron (Ukraine)
Production: Valeria Sochyvets for Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema

Celts [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Milica Tomovic
fiche film] - Milica Tomović (Serbia)
Production: Vladimir Vasiljevic for EED Productions

Mia Misses Her Revenge [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
interview : Bogdan Theodor Olteanu
fiche film] - Bogdan Theodor Olteanu (Romania)
Production: Anamaria Antoci and Anda Ionescu for Tangaj Production

Poppy Field [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Eugen Jebeleanu
fiche film] - Eugen Jebeleanu (Romania)
Production: Velvet Moraru for Icon Production

The Thrillseekers - Vlada Senkova (Belarus)
Production: Larisa Oleinik and Viktar Labkovich for DOKA and Pervaja Kinovideo Company

Connecting Cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Creative Europe/MEDIA and MDM Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Ministerium der Justiz und für Europa und Verbraucherschutz Brandenburg (MdJEV). West European co-productions can apply to attend without a project by 7 October 2019.