First LUBINA awarded at the opening of the 26th FilmFestival Cottbus

On Tuesday, the 26th FilmFestival Cottbus was opened at Staatstheater Cottbus. The greatest surprise of the evening was the appearance of director Andreas Dresen. He held the laudation for Kirsten Niehuus, Managing Director of the Film Funding Department of the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, who was awarded the honorary LUBINA in recognition of her achievements for the development of Central and Eastern European film.

Niehuus ist the fourth laureate of the honorary LUBINA. Prior to her, the award sculpture had been presented to István Szabó, Oscar-winning director and honorary president of the FilmFestival Cottbus, Matthias Platzeck, former Minister President of Brandenburg and Bernd Schiphorst, Chairman of the FilmFestival Cottbus Board of Trustees.

For the first time, the FilmFestival Cottbus presented not one opening film, but four short films throughout the evening's programme: VERNIS | BE BACK (Ukraine 2015), SEMYA OFFLINE | FAMILY OFFLINE (Russia 2015), DZIEŃ BABCI | GRANDMA'S DAY (Poland 2015) and MAUSOLEUM (Estonia 2015), screened again on Wednesday in Stadthalle 

Wed 9.11. | Stadthalle |12.30 Uhr
4 Kurze zur Begrüßung
4 Films
Georgiy Porotov, Andriy Kyryllov, Miłosz Sakowski, Lauri Randla
RU/UA/PL/EE 2015, 81 MIN