Cottbus at the Finále Pilsen

The next Finále Pilsen Film Festival, the biggest festival for Czech and Slovak films, will take place from April 19th to 24th 2018. The festival shows 112 films in five competition sections for feature film, documentaries, non-serial TV and internet production, serial TV and internet production and student films. Several sidebar sections add to the competition sections, among them a series with new German short and feature films which was compiled for the second time in co-operation with the FilmFestival Cottbus. Bernd Buder, the programme director of the FilmFestival Cottbus, will join the prestigious festival in Pilsen from April 21st to 25th April as a member of the jury for student films and as an expert at the “Czech Springboard” presentations of new projects from the Czech Republic.

The competition for feature films will show twelve films which had been in Czech cinemas in 2017/18, among them some titles which had been shown at the FilmFestival Cottbus in 2018: BAREFOOT by Jan Svěrák, NINA by Jaraj Lehotský, OUT by György Kristóf and THE LINE by Peter Bebjak. The “German Cinema” section offers a programme of four short and four feature-length fiction films, including Julia Langhofs LOMO – THE LANGUAGE OF MANY OTHERS, Constanze Knoches UNDER THE FAMILY TREE and HIKIKOMORI, which had been shown in the youth film competition at the FilmFestival Cottbus in 2017.

The “Industry Days” at the Finále Pilsen offer networking opportunities, workshops and presentations of new Czech and Slovak projects. Key event is the “Czech Springboard”, where eight film projects will be pitched and discussed by a group of 25 international film industry experts, among them Marjorie Bendeck, head of connecting cottbus, and Buder. For the first time, a works-in-progress-session is added to the industry section.

More information on the website of Finále Pilsen Film Festival: www.festivalfinale.cz/eng/