Cottbus 2005

FIPRESCI-winning writer-director Bohdan Sláma

This small city in Brandenburg, established in the 10th century when the Sorbs erected a castle on the Spree river, is now home to a bustling annual film festival: The FilmFestival Cottbus – Festival of East European Cinema. This year, our jury gave our award to Something Like Hapiness (Stesti), a Czech/German co-production by writer-director Bohdan Sláma.
Details of the prize

Reports

The Black Man Is White. In the shared irony in the feature film competition at Cottbus, Antonia Kovacheva finds evidence that there is no longer an East European film ghetto. More

Traveling Through Broken Myths. Through a number of East European films, Marilena Iliesiu traces the common theme of the broken myths of Communism. More

Happiness, Czech Style. Bodo Schönfelder sees something like optimism in Bohdan Sláma’s Something Like Happiness, in the "Czech tradition of depicting the destinies of 'small people' in a tragic comical way." More

Happiness On Each Floor. Claire Clouzot admires the "compassionate, cruel and funny" Czech film Something Like Happiness. More  

The Men with Good Eyes. Annika Koppel is delighted to find two good black comedies from Eastern Europe: Jan Cvitkovic's Gravehopping and Petr Zelenka's Wrong Side Up. More

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