The 24th edition of the connecting cottbus (coco) East-West co-production market will take place from 9-11 November, mainly on site at the FilmFestival Cottbus, with some additional online components. This year, coco presents an exciting line-up of 19 feature-film projects from 16 countries in wider Eastern Europe, which will be pitched and will be competing for a variety of awards. The producers and directors will take part in in-depth feedback sessions with industry experts during the cocoLAB, while all participants can join networking events and attend a programme focused on current co-production topics.

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Several films by recent coco alumni have had successful premieres and have won awards at prominent film festivals. The list includes Marina Er Gorbach’s Klondike [+leggi anche:
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trailer
intervista: Maryna Er Gorbach
scheda film], which won the Best Directing Award at Sundance, and The Word [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Beata Parkanová
scheda film] by Beata Parkanová, which won the Best Director Award at Karlovy Vary, besides other titles like Maksym Nakonechnyi’s Butterfly Vision [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Maksym Nakonechnyi
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intervista: Anna Jadowska
scheda film] and Michal Blaško’s Victim [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Michal Blaško
scheda film].

The cocoPITCH selection comprises debut works by up-and-coming filmmakers alongside new film projects by award-winning directors. The organisers promise a highly diverse roster, while “a few examples of common ground include a struggle with socio-political realities (at the workplace, against the judicial system), the crisis in values when tradition and modernity intersect (an ancient burial ritual, buildings with a past, family roles challenged), and expectations placed on women and their bodies (and on one male pregnant body, too)”. This year’s selection includes projects like Minos Nikolakakis’ Asphalt, Beata Parkanová’s Black Blood, Nikola Ljuca’s Fires, Borbála Nagy’s The Origin of the World and Martin Turk’s Washed and Buried, as well as Supermarket by Nermin Hamzagić and Spite by Andrijana Stojković.

The line-up of cocoWiP, intended for works in progress, features “energetic tales of urbanity (both in period and in contemporary settings), teenagers coming of age, unusual friendships and a lying husband”, according to the organisers. Films by Balázs Dudás (Blazing), Parta Kelmendi (Era) and Jasna Nanut (Seventh Heaven [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]) are among the selected projects.

Here is the full list of projects:

cocoPITCH

Asphalt – Minos Nikolakakis (Greece/Slovenia)
Producers: Minos Nikolakakis, Vassilis Economou, Vicky Miha, Boštjan Virc
Production companies: Asphalt, asterisk*, Studio Virc

Black Blood – Beata Parkanová (Czech Republic)
Producer: Ondřej Zach
Production company: Ozet Film

Deconstruction – Pavel G Vesnakov (Bulgaria/Italy)
Producers: Veselka Kirykova, Luigi Chimienti, Alessandro Amato
Production companies: Red Carpet, Dispàrte

Dolphin – Sonja Orlewicz-Zakrzewska (Poland)
Producer: Magdalena Sztorc
Production company: Before My Eyes
Winner of the MIDPOINT – coco Award (MIDPOINT Feature Launch)

Fires – Nikola Ljuca (Montenegro/Italy/Serbia/Croatia)
Producers: Bojana Radulović, Manuela Buono, Nikolina Vučetić Zečević, Vanja Sremac
Production companies: Code Blue Production, Slingshot Films, Biberche, Terminal 3

Inheritance – Stanislav Bytiutskyi (Ukraine)
Producers: Valeria Sochyvets, Inna Lastochkina
Production company: Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema

Maricel – Elias Demetriou (Cyprus/Greece)
Producers: Monica Nikolaidou, Maria Drandaki
Production companies: Filmblades, Homemade Films

The Origin of the World – Borbála Nagy (Hungary/Germany)
Producers: Petra Iványi, Margarita Amineva-Jester
Production companies: Lupa Pictures, Voices Films

Red – Liviu Săndulescu (Romania)
Producer: Ioana Iancu
Production company: The East Company Productions

Supermarket – Nermin Hamzagić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Producers: Adis Djapo, Amra Bakšić Čamo
Production company: SCCA/pro.ba
Winner of the Special Pitch Award FilmFestival Cottbus

Spite – Andrijana Stojković (Serbia)
Producer: Mirko Bojović
Production company: Baboon Production

State – Nikon Romanchenko (Ukraine)
Producers: Vika Khomenko, Darya Bassel
Production company: Moon Man

Washed and Buried – Martin Turk (Slovenia/Italy)
Producer: Ida Weiss
Production company: Bela Film

cocoWiP

Almost Entirely a Slight Disaster – Umut Subaşi (Turkey)
Producer: Cemre Erül
Production company: Yunik Film

Blazing – Balázs Dudás (Hungary)
Producers: Adam Farkas, Zoltán Mártonffy, Zsuzsanna Gyurin
Production company: CineSuper

Era – Parta Kelmendi (Kosovo/North Macedonia)
Producers: Aferdita Saracini Kelmendi, Maria Dimitrova, Belma Bajrami
Production companies: Nam Creative, List Production, Company 21

Seventh Heaven – Jasna Nanut (Croatia)
Producer: Hrvoje Osvadić
Production company: Petnaesta Umjetnost

When You Are 17 – Giorgi Mukhadze (Georgia/Germany)
Producers: Giorgi Kobalia, Titus Kreyenberg
Production companies: Terra Incognita Films, unafilm

Where Elephants Go – Gabi Virginia Şaraga, Cătălin Rotaru (Romania)
Producer: Gabriela Suciu
Production companies: Green Cat Film, Atelier de Film
Winner of the Transilvania Pitch Stop – coco Award