Festivalmonday: Today begins the 32nd FFC with the 20th Lausitzer FilmSchau [prize winner update]

Monday afternoon 14 o'clock - bustle in the festival office. Soon we will move to our festival center in the Stadthalle Cottbus. From 10am on we will be there every day with the whole team. You have a question? No problem, come by the festival center - here you will find all answers about the FilmFestival Cottbus.

The whole year we prepare our festival. The team around program director Bernd Buder visited dozens of film festivals during the year in search of the best films from Central and Eastern Europe. The result is a diverse program of 219 films with something for everyone!

TODAY is finally the time: The 32nd FilmFestival starts with the 20th Lausitzer FilmSchau - Łužyska filmowa pśeglědka - Łužiska filmowa přehladka! From climate protection to structural change, from Sorbian traditions to modernity, from everyday worries, fantasies and love - thematically, the Lusatian FilmSchau sets no limits. A total of 19 contributions from filmmakers from Lower and Upper Lusatia, will be shown at the Filmtheater Weltspiegel.

Secure your tickets now! More information about the program of the Lausitzer FilmSchau and how to buy tickets can be found here.

The preparations are still in full swing. An exciting and thrilling festival week lies ahead and we are more than excited! Click here for the whole film program! In addition to the films, we also offer you a varied supporting program with all kinds of events!

The festival team was welcomed at the Weltspiegel by Managing Director Andreas Stein and Program Director Bernd Buder. Afterwards there was a festive champagne reception (Or OJ)! Soon it will start with the 20th LausitzerFilmschau!

In front of the Weltspiegel, the crew from the Bunten Bahnhof/Scandale has started a spontaneous raffle action. There is roulette, music and mulled wine!

At 7 pm the Lausitzer FilmSchau begins! The hall is full and the mood is cheerful and relaxed. The audience is mixed, but it is noticeable that especially many young people are interested in the FilmSchau.

We saw 18 great short films, all of which would have deserved a prize, but the jury and the audience had to decide on three winners.

The main prize worth 1,500 EUR, donated by Hafenbüro Cottbus by APEX Projekt, was secured by GEDENKEN (Director: Anna Faroqhi, Haim Peretz, DE 2022). The short film is about former street children who, together with a social worker, an architect and a historian, plan a symbolic grave, on the memorial site of a Nazi concentration camp in Jamlitz. The three-member jury consisting of Annelie Tschemmer, visual artist and filmmaker from Cottbus, Amrei Aigner, passionate cineaste and employee at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg and Gregor Kliem, culture and music editor in the Sorbian program of the Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg (rbb) justified their decision as follows: "The film convinces through clear images and language. By accompanying the protagonists in their need to come to terms with history, it creates a completely new perspective on a subject on which there are already many perspectives. In doing so, the topic of memory work is put in a new light in just a few minutes, especially in the current times of war."

The special prize of the Foundation for the Sorbian People, endowed with 1,000 EUR, was won by SE PADA (Director: Mira Dubian, Nima Schaper, DE 2022) The jury was convinced by the completely Sorbian film with historical texts through its expression of the young Sorbian generation between "it makes no sense to preserve the culture" and "but I do it - it makes sense, it has a significance for the future!"

The audience award and with it a shopping voucher worth 250 EUR (donated by Spree Galerie - the City-Einkaufstreff in Cottbus) went to ... UND SCHON WIEDER FALLEN BOMBEN (director: Miriam Bergmann, DE 2022). The film shows three little girls on the run. They are looking for a carefree childhood, but instead find a ticket to war.