Festival of the East European Film The Cottbus Film Festival was first held in 1991 in the immediate post-reunification era and is regarded as the most important festival of Eastern European Cinema worldwide. The host city of Cottbus is located 120 km southeast of Berlin and is a gateway to the east, only a few miles away from the border to Poland in the bilingual (German/Sorbian) Lausitz region in the state of Brandenburg. Every year, filmmakers, producers and actors from Eastern and Central Europe meet in Cottbus. The film industry platform “Connecting Cottbus” plays an important role in bringing together filmmakers, producers and potential financiers. It even pushes some projects from the first idea to the actual film. Cottbus Film Festival is a hallmark as a consumer and industry meeting alike.
