In the future, the FilmFestival Cottbus – Festival of East European Cinema, will cooperate with the Film Festival Wroclaw, specifically in the mutual presentation of festival films. Mediated by the Polish Institute Berlin at this year’s Berlinale, the collaboration was agreed upon by festival directors Roman Gutek (Wroclaw) and Roland Rust (Cottbus), and will be announced this week at the film festival in Wroclaw.

“For us, it is an absolute stroke of luck that we have been able to win such a large and renowned festival as a partner,” says a delighted Roland Rust, the director of the FilmFestival Cottbus. The cooperation is of “outstanding significance for the FilmFestival Cottbus.” The “Era Nowe Horyzonty” Film Festival Wroclaw is the largest film festival in Poland. This year, 550 films, of which 150 are Polish premieres, will be screened during the eleven-day festival. 127,000 visitors viewed the selection of films last year.

There have been very good contacts between the festivals in Cottbus and Wroclaw for quite a while already. The lively Polish film scene has traditionally been strongly represented at the FilmFestival Cottbus for East European Cinema. “Wroclaw has a special place in our hearts,” says Rust, who is invited to the Polish festival this year. In addition to an exchange between experts, he also hopes for reciprocal streams of visitors: “After all, there is a direct train connection between Cottbus and Wroclaw”– a Eurocity train which the festival director himself takes.

This year, the FilmFestival Cottbus will present three of its 2008 award-winners in Wroclaw: the Czech drama THE VILLAGE TEACHER by Bohdan Slama, the love story TULPAN set in the Kazakh steppe and the Hungarian feature film DELTA. Roland Rust will personally present the three films.

The “Era New Horizons” Festival in Wroclaw takes place from July 23 to August 2, 2009. A special focus this season is on Asian and European films. Moreover, 14 of the competition films are international premieres. Further highlights include a retrospective of 1960s and 70s Hungarian cinema, insights into new Polish cinema, a retrospective of the Polish animation filmmaker Piotr Dumala, as well as silent film presentations with live music.