Kotbusas festivālu Vācijā atklās ar Dreiberga spēlfilmu "Tīklā. TTT leģendas dzimšana"

The Cottbus International Film Festival in Germany will open on Tuesday with the feature film "In the Net. The Birth of the TTT Legend" by director Dzintars Dreiberga, as informed by Kristīne Matīsa, a representative of the National Film Centre.

The Cottbus International Film Festival is one of the leading festivals focusing on contemporary Central and Eastern European cinema. It was founded in 1991, and this year’s program includes 147 films from 43 countries. Among this selection of films, Latvian works are particularly highlighted in the focus program "Close-Up: Latvia", which features eight full-length films and six short films.

The Cottbus focus selection reflects the diversity of the Latvian film spectrum - following Dreiberga's film, which is chosen for the festival's opening screening, will be Viesturs Kairišs and Kārlis Arnolda Avota's "Uļa", Laila Pakalniņa's "I Think About the Cat", Reinis Kalviņš's "In the Open Behind the Forest", Alise Zariņa's "Imprints", Oskars Rupenheita's "Dark Blue Gospel", Dāvis Sīmanis's "Maria's Silence" and Gints Zilbalodis's "Current".

In collaboration with the Latvian Short Film Agency, the selected short format program includes four films by new directors - Ildze Felsberga's "Where the Sun Sleeps at Night?", Līva Klepere's "My First Funeral", Alvīna Jansena's "Dust Doomsday", Aivars Šaicāns and Jēkabs Okonovs's "Sludge", as well as two animation works - Ieva Lība Ratniece's "The Wandering Dot and the Empty Square Universe" and Artūrs Vobļikovs's "The Film Film".

Latvian films and co-productions can also be found in other Cottbus festival programs, for example, in the "EcoEast" section, director Krista Burāne's documentary "All Birds Sing Beautifully" will be screened, in the "Children’s Film" program - director Edmunds Jansons's animated film "The Happy Ones", while the Latvian studio "Air Productions" participates in both programs as minority co-production partners - in the Lithuanian documentary "Baltic UXO" and in the feature film "Mission: Find the Parents", a co-production of five countries, which is currently also being screened in Latvian cinemas. 

Another Latvian minority co-production, co-produced by the studio "Mistrus Media", has been selected for the "Cottbus Masters" program - the feature film "Return" by Lithuanian director Šarūnas Bartas. The historical program, dedicated to the political events of the 20th century before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, includes the documentary "Is It Easy to Be Young?" by cinematographer and director Juris Podnieks.