Cottbus Film Festival 2025: Estonia in the spotlight on the big screen!

Cottbus Film Festival 2025: Estonia in the spotlight on the big screen!

The starting signal for the 35th edition will be given on November 4th, 2025. Cottbus Film Festival, which opens its doors until November 9th. This year the focus is on the Baltic country of Estonia, which offers a wide range of insights into Estonian film art as part of the series "Close-Up: Estonia. Between History and Present". Festival visitors can look forward to a total of 138 films from 41 countries. The festival is clearly committed to impressively presenting the diversity and diversity of Eastern Europe daily news reported.

What a program! The competition sections include feature films, short films and contributions in the U18 program, in which the best works compete for the main prize of 15,000 euros. New this year: The “Don’t Call Me Vintage!” series, which presents films from the 1980s from a female perspective. The “Cottbus Masters” will be particularly exciting, as they will show films by well-known directors who are not in the competition.

Variety of films and new sections

The festival consists of a total of 13 sections, including the popular genre section “Midnight Madness”, which is dedicated to the crossover between horror and fantasy. This year the selection was slightly reduced to 140 films to make the jury's work easier; Last year there were 138 films, but after analyzing the last edition, the festival management decided to adjust the number.

The venues are a colorful mix and extend to the State Theater, the Weltspiegel film theater, the Kammerbühne as well as the Gladhouse youth center and the Obenkino. Admittedly, the central Cottbus town hall is not being used due to renovation work, but this does not detract from the creativity of the venues. On the opening evening, the Slovak-Czech production “Duchoň” will be presented in the Great Hall of the State Theater.

Specials for students and discussions with filmmakers

There is a special highlight on festival Wednesday (November 5th): students have free entry to all performances. This shows that the festival is not only a place for film art, but also for education and exchange. In addition to the screenings, discussions with filmmakers and various supporting events are also planned.

Curious? The regular ticket price for the individual films is a manageable 7.50 euros - making a visit twice as much fun! Cottbus not only celebrates film art, but also offers the opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of cinema and get to know the diversity of Eastern European films.