FilmFestival Cottbus Opens Tonight with Latvian Box Office Hit ESCAPE NET
An award-winning sports drama to kick things off, 147 films from 43 countries and numerous premieres: The 36th FilmFestival Cottbus opens tonight, Tuesday, at the Cottbus State Theatre. The opening film is ESCAPE NET, the Latvian box office hit directed by Dzintars Dreibergs. Until 8 November, the festival will bring the diversity of Central and Eastern European cinema to screens across the city.
The 36th FilmFestival Cottbus (FFC) will officially open tonight, Tuesday, 3 November, at 7 pm, in the Main Auditorium of the Cottbus State Theatre. The opening ceremony will be hosted by Christian Matthée. Guests include Markus Niggemann, State Secretary at the Brandenburg Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy, Climate Action and European Affairs, and Tobias Schick, Mayor of Cottbus. FFC Programme Director Bernd Buder will offer a preview of the festival's upcoming highlights. Ilze Rūse, Ambassador of Latvia to Germany, will address the audience in a video message. The Ukrainian choir Paljanyzja will provide musical accompaniment.
The International Festival Jury will also be introduced during the opening ceremony. Its members are Polish director Maciej Sobieszczański, Croatian director Igor Šeregi, Yaron Shamir, Artistic Director of the Haifa International Film Festival, German actress Claudia Geisler-Bading, and Urte Fink, commissioning editor at ZDF/ARTE.
The opening ceremony is an invitation-only event.
Basketball, the KGB and the Fight for Self-Determination: ESCAPE NET Opens the Festival
A basketball player who makes history on the court while attracting the attention of the Soviet secret police off it: ESCAPE NET (Latvia, 2025) combines gripping sports drama with a chapter of Latvian history.
The story centres on Dzidra Uztupe, who rises to become one of Europe's most successful basketball players with the women's team TTT Riga. But because her brother lives in exile, her family comes under political suspicion. When spectators begin chanting slogans in support of Latvian independence during basketball games, the KGB increases its pressure on the team. Caught between sporting success and state surveillance, Dzidra fights for her career and her identity.
In Latvia, ESCAPE NET became a box office hit, attracting more than 130,000 cinema admissions. At the 2026 Lielais Kristaps Latvian Film Awards, the film received four awards, including Best Feature Film and Best Actress, as well as the Audience Award. Director Dzintars Dreibergs will attend the opening ceremony in Cottbus and introduce his film in person.
The film is also part of this year's CLOSE-UP: LATVIA focus, which explores the history, present and diversity of Latvian cinema through 14 films.
147 Films, International Premieres and New Discoveries
Until 8 November, FilmFestival Cottbus will present 147 films from 43 countries of production and co-production, including 12 world premieres, six international premieres and 58 German premieres.
A total of 29 films will compete across three competitions: ten in the Feature Film Competition, 13 in the Short Film Competition and six in the new GenNext Competition, dedicated to a younger generation of filmmakers. The festival will award prizes totalling approximately €52,000.
Further programme highlights include a special focus on cinema from Montenegro, the film series Wende und kein Ende? (Transformation Without End?), exploring the social and political upheavals following 1989, and a tribute marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Polish director Andrzej Wajda. The film programme is complemented by discussions with international filmmakers, concerts, parties and events for families.
Running alongside the festival, the international co-production market connecting cottbus (coco) will bring together filmmakers, production companies and funding institutions from 4 to 6 November.
Tickets for the regular festival programme are already on sale. Full details of all films, screening times and events are available at filmfestivalcottbus.de.
For further information, interview requests, film stills and screening opportunities, please contact Marthe Gärtner (m.gaertner@filmfestival-cottbus.de).
The FilmFestival Cottbus receives substantial funding from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the City of Cottbus. We are also very grateful for the support of Creative Europe MEDIA, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Sparkasse Spree-Neiße and the Federal Agency for Civic Education. Our media partners are radioeins and radio3.
The GenNext Competition is presented by IHK Cottbus. EcoEast is presented by Stadtwerke Cottbus. Close-Up: Latvia is funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb). Transformation without End? is funded by the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany. Heimat | Domownja | Domizna is supported by the Foundation for the Sorbian People. Don't Call Me Vintage! is funded by the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation and supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute; partners include the Wajda School and Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. Kids Cinema is organised in cooperation with the SCHLiNGEL International Film Festival and supported by Gebäudewirtschaft Cottbus GmbH (GWC).
