Cottbus 2004

COTTBUS FESTIVAL OF EAST EUROPEAN FILMS 2004 No other European festival is better positioned than Cottbus to measure the depth and range of the current film revival in Central and Eastern Europe. Abetted by the smart programming skill of festival director Roland Rust, the 14th Filmfestival Cottbus (2-6 November 2004) - aka the 14th Festival of East European Cinema - was again a must-visit event for critics, cineastes, and directors interested in keeping apace with the hundred or more important productions released annually in filmlands stretching from the former German Democratic Republic to Kazakhstan in Central Asia. This year, with its generous budget of circa 500,000 Euros from Land Brandenburg and the City of Cottbus, the festival staff made absolutely sure that its double competition for features and shorts under separate juries had selected the best entries from a bumper crop of quality productions in a dozen rejuvenated filmlands...