Polish Films Awarded in Cottbus

The student jury of the 23rd Cottbus Film Festival, which closed on November 10, awarded Dziewczyna z szafy (The Girl From the Wardrobe), a film directed by Bodo Kox and co-financed by the Polish Film Institute. The Short Feature Competition jury gave the Best Film award to Maria Zbąska’s Psubrat (Brother Dog), also co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

Awards for Polish Films

The student jury of the 23rd Cottbus Film Festival selected Dziewczyna z szafy (The Girl from the Wardrobe) by Bodo Kox as the Best Debut Film, recognizing the film for the “considerable space for the development of its main and supporting characters [and] the imagination of the author’s team.” Psubrat (Brother Dog), which had its international premiere in Cottbus, appealed to the jury through its ironic use of style and national symbols, its mixture of comedy and coming-of-age story. As the jury statement reads: “The sudden menace of the film’s climax, and its strong, well-judged ending are solid proof of the director’s talent and leave us eager to see her upcoming films.”

Other Polish films screening in Cottbus included Bejbi Blues (Baby Blues) by Katarzyna Rosłaniec, Leszczu (Chicken), a short film by Aleksandra Terpińska, Zdjęcie (The Photograph) by Maciej Adamek, Papusza by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze, as well as Tomasz Wasilewski’s Płynące wieżowce (Floating Skyscrapers) and Katarzyna Klimkiewicz’s Flying Blind, which were shown in the Polish Horizons section of the festival.

The 23rd Edition of the Festival

The Cottbus Film Festival is one of the key events dedicated to promoting Eastern European cinema. Cottbus audiences have an opportunity to see a selection of the best feature, documentary and animated films made in Eastern Europe in the past year. At last year’s edition of the festival, Polish films received a total of five festival awards.

Further details about the award-winning films are available at www.filmfestivalcottbus.de.

Written by Marta Sikorska based on the press release

Translated by Karolina Kołtun