14/10/2020 - 12 films will compete for the main prize of €25,000 at the 30th edition of the event, which will take place in a hybrid form from 3-8 November

The FilmFestival Cottbus, dedicated to Eastern European cinema – which will take place for the 30th time, in a hybrid setting, from 3-8 November – has announced its competition line-up. Among the 12 entries, Serbian director Oleg Novković's newest film, The Living Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], about an ageing rock musician, is the only one that will enjoy its world premiere at the German event. Novković has won the main award at Cottbus twice, with Miner's Opera in 2006 and with White, White World [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] in 2010.

Another Cottbus regular, Russian filmmaker Ivan I Tverdovskiy, will also return to the festival competition with his Venice Giornate degli Autori entry Conference [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan I Tverdovsky
film profile]. Polish writer-director Piotr Domalewski, who won a Special Prize in Cottbus' short-film section in 2018, will compete at the festival with his second feature, I Never Cry [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Piotr Domalewski
film profile], which recently world-premiered in San Sebastián's New Directors section.

Three films in the line-up stand out on account of their strong female protagonists: Lina Lužyte's The Castle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Lithuania/Ireland), Jure Pavlović's Mater [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jure Pavlović
film profile] (Croatia/Serbia/France/Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Ivan Ikić's Oasis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan Ikic
film profile] (Serbia/Netherlands/Slovenia/Bosnia and Herzegovina/France). In addition to highlighting women characters in its selection, Cottbus prides itself on its genre diversity. In this regard, other films on the menu include the Kazakh-Japanese western The Horse Thieves. The Roads of Time by Yerlan Nurmukhambetov and Lisa Takeba, which recently opened the Busan Film Festival, and Turkish director Erdem Tepegöz's dark apocalyptic surveillance thriller In the Shadows [+see also:
film review
film profile], which received a Special Jury Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival.

Also coming from Moscow to Cottbus is Romanian director Marian Crisan's political comedy The Campaign [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marian Crişan
film profile]. Szabolcs Hajdu's Treasure City [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], the first major Hungarian film to be released straight to VoD in the territory back in April, will have its German premiere at the festival. Two relationship dramas, Michalis Konstantatos' Sarajevo title All the Pretty Little Horses [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michalis Konstantatos
film profile] (Greece/Belgium/Germany) and Polish filmmaker Piotr Dylewski's Rotten Ears [+see also:
trailer
film profile], round off the selection.

The 12 films will be competing for the Main Prize of €25,000 and the Special Prize for Best Director, as well as the LUBINA prize sculpture.