WHEN THE PHONE RANG wins at the 34th FilmFestival Cottbus

Director Iva Radivojević has been awarded the main prize at the 34th FilmFestival Cottbus. The Serbian production WHEN THE PHONE RANG was honoured with the EUR 15,000 prize. The film convinced the international festival jury and won the main prize ‘for its authentic narrative of a country falling apart and its unique, poetic film language, which sensitively balances the personal feelings of a teenage girl, collective pain and political events in its portrayal of memories.’

The main prize for the best feature film is sponsored by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.
 
GOOD CHILDREN (HR, 2024) by Filip Peruzović received an honourable mention from the International Festival Jury for a film that ‘tenderly navigates the viewer through fragile spaces and memories with great attention to detail, in which unspoken questions and unspoken thoughts come together with the familiar teasing between siblings and promise healing.’
 
The special prize for best director, donated by Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg and endowed with EUR 7,500, goes to Pavlo Ostrikov for U R THE UNIVERSE (UA/BE, 2024). With this one-man play about the presumably last human being, Ostrikov creates ‘a convincing and multi-layered universe that reminds us how important human relationships are in the darkest of times’, according to the jury.
 
Eva Samioti is delighted to receive the EUR 5,000 prize for an outstanding individual performance. In RIVIERA (GR/FR / 2024), she won over the international festival jury ‘with a courageous and multi-layered performance about the process of growing up’.

All three prizewinners receive the coveted glass prize sculpture Lubina in addition to the prize money.
 
The main prize in the short film competition goes to the film BURNING SUN by Nutsa Tsikaridze. The Georgian production ‘takes us back to the innocence and vulnerability of childhood’, according to the short film jury, adding that the film ‘communicates not on a rational, but on a sensual and emotional level’. Director Marcell Farkas wins the special prize for his film AGE OF THE DRAGON. The Hungarian-Austrian film is a darkly romantic drama about love, devotion and doom in a dystopian world. ‘The lyrical narrative style of this film leaves us with a mythical experience that touches us on a conscious and subconscious level,’ said the short film jury.
 
WET MONDAY wins the U18 youth film competition. The Polish-Estonian-Czech production by Justyna Mytnik is a dark, magical-realistic coming-of-age drama. ‘ We found the approach to the topic of sexual violence very successful. The various aspects of the problem were illuminated and made tangible. The film showed how differently everyone reacts to traumatic experiences and the subtle fusion of reality and the protagonist's nightmares, which reflect her inner conflict, was impressive,’ said the jury, which is made up of students from the Ludwig-Leichhart-Gymnasium Cottbus, the Niedersorbisches Gymnasium Cottbus and the Gymnázium Teplice.
 
The Audience Award of the 34th FFC goes to the film U R THE UNIVERSE by Pavlo Ostrikov. The prize is endowed with EUR 3,000 and is sponsored by the Lausitzer Rundschau newspaper.
 
The prize of the Foundation for the Sorbian People, endowed with EUR 3,000, is awarded to filmmaker Maja Nagel. Akcija! -the film sponsorship award/filmowe spěchowańske myto, endowed with EUR 3,000, goes to Nestor Grischin.
 
‘Eastern Europe is often perceived through negative headlines, but this festival year impressively demonstrates the diversity and depth with which local people face their reality,‘ says programme director Bernd Buder and emphasises: “The Cottbus Film Festival creates a platform for open exchange at eye level, where the often unspoken ”elephants in the room’ can be named directly - without being overwhelmed by them.’
 
The festival Sunday begins with the TALE OF THE SILVER BRIDGE in the Stadthalle. At the same time, the short film competition will be repeated in two blocks in Weltspiegel Saal 2. This will be followed by the audience favourite OUR LOVELY PIG SLAUGHTER at 5 p.m. and then the winning film U R THE UNIVERSE at 8 p.m., also in Weltspiegel Saal 2. A total of 49 films can still be seen on Sunday. Managing Director Andreas Stein says: ‘Every single day at the 34th FilmFestival Cottbus was a pleasure for me. A wonderful, almost familiar atmosphere in the individual venues, numerous very well-attended film screenings, intensive and exciting discussions on our panels, in the cinema foyers or in cafés and at the evening parties. I am grateful and proud to be part of this wonderful festival and festival team. In terms of content, we are already thinking about next year's festival. The 35th FFC will take place from 4 to 9 November 2025.’
 
LIST OF ALL AWARD WINNERS OF THE 34TH COTTBUS FILM FESTIVAL
 
Competition Feature Film
Main prize for the best film - WHEN THE PHONE RANG (Iva Radivojević, RS/USA, 2024)
The main prize, endowed with EUR 15,000, is donated by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. The International Festival Jury of the 34th FFC consists of Anja Matković, actress and screenwriter from Croatia, Sonora Broka, Artistic Director of the Riga International Film Festival, Cristina Groşan, Romanian-Hungarian filmmaker, and Xavier Henry-Rashid, Franco-British sales agent and former Executive Director of the Raindance Film Festival.
 
Jury statement:
“For an authentic narrative of a country falling apart and its unique, poetic cinematic language that delicately balances personal feelings of a teenage girl, collective pain, and political events in recreating memories, the jury unanimously awards the Best Film Award to WHEN THE PHONE RANG.”
 
Special Prize for Best Director - U R THE UNIVERSE (Pavlo Ostrikov, UA/BE 2024)
The Special Prize for Best Director is sponsored by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) and is endowed with EUR 7,500.
 
Jury statement:
„With effective mise-en-scène, powerful performances, and striking visuals, this director crafts a convincing and layered universe that reminds us of the importance of human connection in the darkest of times. For this achievement, the Best Director Award goes to Pavlo Ostrikov for U R THE UNIVERSE.”
 
Prize for an outstanding individual performance by Eva Samioti in RIVIERA (GR/FR 2024)
 
The prize for an outstanding individual performance is donated by Sparkasse Spree-Neiße and is endowed with EUR 5,000.
 
Jury statement:
„For a brave and complex performance, which elevates this coming of age to a whole new level, the prize for an outstanding individual performance goes to Eva Samioti for her role in RIVIERA“
 
Short Film Competition
Main prize for the best short film - BURNING SUN (Nutsa Tsikaridze, GE, 2024)
The main prize for the best short film, endowed with EUR 2,500, is donated by Druckzone from Cottbus. The jury for the short film competition consists of the Hungarian director and author Szilárd Bernáth, the Bulgarian director Magdalena Ilieva and Eglė Vertelytė, Lithuanian screenwriter and director.
 
Jury statement:
“This short was able to involve us with the sensation of heat, the feel of sand, stones and water. Through this pure and direct cinematic language the movie takes us back to innocence and vulnerability of childhood and the magical experience of its discovery. The film also shows the chance of a trauma not by psychologizing, but by irregular, diffuse, unsettling dramatic effects. It communicates not on a rational, but on a sensual and emotional level, what the jury highly appreciated. The main award goes to BURNING SUN.”
 
Special prize for a director- AGE OF THE DRAGON (Marcell Farkas, HU/AT, 2024)
The special prize for a director is sponsored by Tiede+ and is endowed with EUR 1,500.
 
Jury statement:
“This film’s unique and nuanced characters and lyrical storytelling leave us with a mythic experience, which touched us on a conscious and subconscious level. For effective directing of a strikingly beautiful, imaginative, and emotionally powerful tale of love and loss. The Special Prize for the Best Director in the Short Film Competition goes to Marcell Farkas for THE AGE OF THE DRAGON.”
 
Youth Film Competition
Prize for the best youth film - WET MONDAY (Justyna Mytnik, PL/EE/CZ, 2024)
 
The prize for the best youth film is endowed with EUR 5,000 and is donated by the city of Cottbus. The jury consists of students from the Ludwig-Leichhart-Gymnasium Cottbus, the Niedersorbisches Gymnasium Cottbus and the Gymnázium Teplice.
 
Jury statement:
„The approach to the topic of sexual violence was successfully managed for us. The different aspects of the problem were illuminated and made tangible. The film showed how responses to traumatic experiences differ for every person. What captured our attention was the subtle merging of reality and the protagonist‘s nightmares that mirrored her inner conflict. We were given an insight to Polish traditions and folklore, and enjoyed the interplay of the chosen music and the visual language. The journey throughout the movie and the questions the viewer had to deal with made watching of the movie enjoyable.“
 
DIALOGUE Prize for Intercultural Communication
1,500 EUR donated by Rotary Club Cottbus
ZINEMA (Kornii Hrytsiuk, UA/LU, 2024)
Jury: Inga Pylypchuk (director), Daniel Abma (director) and Tamás Tóth (director)
 
Jury statement:
“In selecting this year’s films, we had the privilege of choosing works that are not only
thematically rich but also aesthetically beautiful and dramaturgically powerful. Our choice for the Dialogue Prize, however, goes to a film that stands out for its courage and provocation in fostering intercultural reflection. The film reveals how deeply propaganda from the Russian government has spread in the film industry and media, helping us think about the global impact of this issue.”
 
 
Prize for the Best Debut Film
3,000 EUR donated by the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg and the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF
78 Days (Emilija Gašić, Serbia, 2024)
Jury: Prof. Dr Susanne Eichner (Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF), Mimi Zak (director of FFC trailer) and Prof. Dr Stefanie Kiwi Menrath (BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg)
 
Jury statement:
“We are immensely impressed by the courageous and consistent artistic decisions of the film. Through the impressive performance of the actors as well as through the exclusive use of home video aesthetics, the film creates a strong sense of realism and authenticity. Its style and staging allow us to experience with remarkable intimacy the lives of three young protagonists within the confined scenery of a family quarantined by the Kosovo war. This bears a sinister currency that unsettles and affects us all the more these days. This debut film award honors a director, from whom we hope to see many more daring and critical films.”
 
FIPRESCI-Preis
of the Féderation Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique 
WHEN THE PHONE RANG (Iva Radivojević, RS/USA, 2024)
Jury: Armando Russi, Silvia Bahl und Jana Bébarová

Jury Statement:
“Cinema is a time machine and a machine working with time; it does not simply catapult us back to certain moments, it reorganizes our experiences through the interplay of image and sound. In the contribution we would like to honor today, film becomes the medium of an impossible memory: the unconscious, the traumatic reconfigures itself in shots that are held together by a poignant beauty. The irretrievable transience of life becomes painfully clear. Through intense memories of everyday moments presented in visceral image compositions, impressions of a personal and social disintegration arise that were too traumatic to comprehend or even to experience at the moment they actually took place. We would like to honor a film whose melancholy is touching because it conveys the aftermath of the Yugoslavian war, but it also tells of something universal, evokes a feeling that is timeless, transferable to other situations of social collapse today. The stringency of the recursive form, the tension between image and sound, the intensity and beauty of the visual language testify to both great intellectual precision as well as an impressive aesthetic
sensitivity for momentariness.”
 
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
sponsored by SIGNIS and INTERFILM
GOOD CHILDREN (Filip Peruzović, HR, 2024)
Jury: Christian Olding, Gabriella Rácsok, Ines Gil and Dr Katrin Rudolph
 
Jury statement:
“We were impressed by the unagitated und quiet presenting of different approaches to grieve together with the sounds of the house and nature, which repeatedly dissolved into silence. That created a unique atmosphere. We were also struck by the complex sibling relationship on the one hand, which at the same time was reflected in the simplicity of the visual and cinematic language.”
 
Award of the Foundation for the Sorbian People/ spěchowańske myto załožby za serbski lud
endowed with EUR 3,000
Maja Nagel
 
Akcija! - the film promotion award/filmowe spěchowańske myto
endowed with 3,000 EUR
Nestor Grischin
 
Audience Award
3,000 EUR donated by the Lausitzer Rundschau newspaper
U R THE UNIVERSE (Pavlo Ostrikov, UA/BE, 2024)
Jury: Audience of the FilmFestival Cottbus
 
PICK A STORY - Audience Logline Award
Endowed with 1,000 EUR from the Film Centre Serbia
 
 
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The FilmFestival Cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the State of Brandenburg and the City of Cottbus.