On Saturday evening the 24th FilmFestival Cottbus concluded with an awards ceremony in the Stadthalle Cottbus. In addition to the 72,750 Euros awarded to the winning filmmakers, the organizers were once again able to look back on a successful festival, which attracted over 20,000 viewers to Cottbus.
“The vote was surprisingly harmonious”, declared jury member Vladimir Burlakov, but admitted: “We agreed on the Main Prize winners immediately, but there was some discussion on the additional prizes, which we could nevertheless resolve by democratic means.”
The International Festival Jury chose KLASS KORREKTSII | CORRECTIONS CLASS (Russia, Germany 2014) as this year’s winner of the Main Prize for Best Film worth 20,000 Euros, donated by the Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrechten (GWFF). The jury was particularly impressed by the unsentimental, unpretentious approach to an important social issue by an excellent ensemble of actors.
The Special Prize for Best Director, worth 7,500 Euros and donated by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb), goes to Alexander Kott for his work ISPYTANIE | TEST (Russia 2014). “In his original, somewhat eccentric and visually stunning film the director was able to shed light on a relatively unknown chapter in post-war Soviet history“, so declared the jury its decision.
The Award for Outstanding Actress, worth 5,000 Euros and donated by the city of Cottbus, goes to Piroska Molnár for her role in György Pálfi SZABADESÉS | FREE FALL (Hungary, France, South Korea, 2014).
The Award for Outstanding Actor goes to Emir Hadzihafizbegovic in TAKVA SU PRAVILA | THESE ARE THE RULES (Croatia, France, Serbia, Macedonia 2014).
This is also endowed with 5,000 Euros, and is donated by the Sparkasse Spree-Neiße.
The International Festival Jury decided in favour of the Kosovar-German co-production TRI DRITARE DHE NJE VARJE | THREE WINDOWS AND A HANGING (2014),
which also receives an honourable mention from the Jury of the DIALOGUE Prize for Intercultural Communication.
Winner of the 2,500 Euro Main Prize for a short film is director Daniel Sandu for his contribution CAI PUTERE | HORSEPOWER.
Much applause was given this year at the U 18 German-Polish Youth Film Competition. Six films, three Polish and three German productions, entered the race for the favours of the audience and the bi-national Polish-German student jury. 1,500 Euros, donated by the Chamber of Crafts Cottbus, went to POKA HEISST TSCHÜSS AUF RUSSISCH | GOODBYE (Germany, Kazakhstan 2014), a story that tells of the hard times experienced by “Russo-Germans” shortly after the collapse of Soviet communism.