Something Wild, dir. Zsuzsanna Konrádcredit: coco
COTTBUS: Part One of FNE’s coverage of the 28thconnecting cottbus cocoPITCH presents projects exploring identity, historical trauma and family ties, from Turkish psychological drama to Kazakhstani supernatural stories and Ukrainian wartime narratives.
Adem and the Others is a psychological drama set in a remote Turkish mountain village in the winter of 1996. When a respected villager is found murdered and heavy snowfall cuts the community off from the authorities, a group of men sets out to deliver the wounded murder suspect to the gendarmerie. Led by young shepherd Adem, their perilous journey through the mountains exposes buried secrets, rivalries and a collective effort to conceal the truth. As the suspect dies along the way, the men agree on a convenient version of events, unaware that the real killer has been among them all along.
Written and directed by Onur Saylak, the film explores collective guilt, social hierarchy and the manipulation of truth. Through the figure of Adem, a marginalised shepherd overlooked by the village’s powerful men, the story examines how social invisibility can become a
Saylak’s previous features include More (2017) and Chokehold (2023).
Produced by Ay Yapım, Liman Film and Electric Sheep (Türkiye, Germany), the project has an estimated budget of 1,336,794 EUR, with 595,194 EUR already secured. The Ministry of Culture is attached with production support, and Bir Film is on board as the Turkish distributor. The production is seeking European coproducers, distributors and sales partners.
Producer:
Liman Film (Türkiye)
İrem Akbal: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Credits:
Director: Onur Saylak
Screenwriters: Onur Saylak, Hakan Günday
Producers: Kerem Çatay, Nadir Öperli, İrem Akbal, Michael Reuter
Aventura is a film noir set in Romania in September 1994. When fortysomething Monica unexpectedly reunites with Alec, a former school lover who left communist Romania two decades earlier, she agrees to join him on a trip to a mountain retreat. What begins as a nostalgic reunion takes a dark turn as their conflicting worldviews and a night of intimacy lead to a violent confrontation. Monica returns home alone, carrying a secret that threatens to unravel her seemingly settled life.
Written and directed by Andrei Crețulescu, the film explores desire, power, violence and the blurred boundaries between self-defence and revenge. Conceived as a modern film noir, Aventura combines crisp black-and-white cinematography and fast-paced editing in its first half with vibrant colour, wider compositions and longer takes in the second.
Produced by Avanpost Media and Kinosseur Productions (Romania), the project has an estimated budget of 914,000 EUR, with 226,000 EUR already secured. Avanpost Studio is attached with in-kind support, while National Sales AVP is on board as Romanian distributor. The production is seeking international coproducers, particularly from France, Germany, Italy and the former communist Eastern Bloc, as well as sales and distribution partners.
Producer:
Avanpost Media (Romania)
Carmen Rizac: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Credits:
Director: Andrei Crețulescu
Screenwriter: Andrei Crețulescu
Producers: Carmen Rizac, Codruta Crețulescu
Cargo to the South is a comedy road movie set in Croatia, following two estranged brothers whose lives spiral out of control after one of them accidentally kills a man in a hit-and-run. Forced by a ruthless crime matriarch to deliver a stolen truckload of goods from Zagreb to Split, the brothers find themselves caught between rival mafias, a runaway masseuse and an increasingly chaotic journey. Their final discovery is perhaps the strangest cargo of all: 350 endangered tortoises waking from hibernation.
Written and directed by Veno Mušinović, the film combines criminal chaos, dark humour and family drama in a story about brotherhood, reconciliation and the struggle to grow up. Envisioned as a stylised Balkan road comedy, it pairs sharp dialogue and eccentric characters with open roads, colourful landscapes and a distinctly heightened visual world.
Mušinović’s previous short films include Summer 17 (2018) and Visitors (2015).
Produced by Wolfgang & Dolly (Croatia), with Aleksandar Arsovski as producer, the project has an estimated budget of 1,340,000 EUR, with 35,000 EUR already secured. The Croatian Audiovisual Centre is attached with script and project development support. The production is seeking international coproducers, particularly from Italy, Germany, Bulgaria and Albania, as well as sales, festival and distribution partners.
Producer:
Wolfgang & Dolly (Croatia)
Aleksandar Arsovski: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Credits:
Director: Veno Mušinović
Screenwriter: Veno Mušinović
Producer: Aleksandar Arsovski
No Place for Me in Heaven is a coming-of-age road movie following fifteen-year-old Hell, who has grown up travelling across borders with her free-spirited, trainhopping mother. When a missed train separates them, Hell finds shelter in a remote communal farm at the heart of the Czech underground music scene. Through new friendships and first love, she discovers a sense of belonging and begins to imagine a different future, forcing her to choose between her mother’s nomadic lifestyle and a life of her own.
Produced by Bratři (Czech Republic), with Lara Stoilova and Eva Váchová as producers, the project has an estimated budget of 1,293,528 EUR, with 23,290 EUR already secured. The Czech Film Fund is attached with script development support, while Bontonfilm is on board as Czech distributor. The production is seeking international coproducers, particularly from Poland, as well as sales partners and script consultants.
Producer:
Bratři (Czech Republic)
Lara Stoilova: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Credits:
Director: Viktorie Novotná
Screenwriters: Viktorie Novotná, Darja Miková
Producers: Lara Stoilova, Eva Váchová
Purple Sun is a psychological drama with horror elements set in Kazakhstan, exploring the lasting human consequences of Soviet nuclear testing. When 25-year-old Aiym arrives to teach at a remote village school near the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, she encounters three mysterious teenage brothers who appear to be ghosts. As she investigates their past, she uncovers a tragic story of radiation exposure, family separation and a decades-long cover-up, while confronting her own painful relationship with the spirit world.
Written and directed by Dana Alimjanova, the film blends ghost story, magical realism and mysticism to explore historical trauma, memory and healing. Inspired by the more than 456 nuclear tests conducted at the Semipalatinsk site between 1949 and 1989, Purple Sun brings an overlooked chapter of Kazakh history to international audiences.
Alimjanova’s previous work includes That Place (2026) and the short documentary Jarqyn (2025).
Produced by Art East Films (Kazakhstan), with Aruzhan Dossymkozha and Julia Kim-von Den Driesch as producers, the project has an estimated budget of 560,000 EUR and is currently seeking financing. Biennale College Cinema is attached with in-kind project development support. The production is looking for international coproducers, sales agents, festival partners and distributors.
Producer:
Art East Films (Kazakhstan)
Aruzhan Dossymkozha: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Credits:
Director: Dana Alimjanova
Screenwriter: Dana Alimjanova
Producers: Aruzhan Dossymkozha, Julia Kim-von Den Driesch
Reminiscence is a drama about grief, ambiguous loss and the psychological consequences of war in Ukraine. Sasha (25), unable to move on since her brother Yan disappeared at the front three years earlier, reluctantly returns to her hometown to help her mother recover from surgery. Surrounded by memories of her brother and confronted with her mother’s determination to keep hope alive, Sasha gradually reconnects with her past and begins to find a way forward.
Written and directed by Anastasiia Tykha, the film explores how families cope with the uncertainty of wartime disappearance and the different ways people experience grief. Blending intimate family drama with magical elements, including the recurring image of ball lightning, the story examines memory, reconciliation and the possibility of healing.
Produced by Moon Man (Ukraine), with Darya Bassel as producer, the project has an estimated budget of 1,134,360 EUR, with 55,722 EUR already secured. The Ukrainian Cultural Foundation is attached with development support, and the project received the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award (https://www.coe.int/en/web/eurimages). The production is seeking international coproducers, particularly from Poland, the Czech Republic, the Baltic countries, France and Scandinavia, as well as sales and distribution partners and NGO partners working with families of missing soldiers and war-related issues.
Producer:
Moon Man (Ukraine)
Darya Bassel: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Credits:
Director: Anastasiia Tykha
Screenwriter: Anastasiia Tykha
Producer: Darya Bassel
Something Wild is an absurdist drama told through the eyes of Ábris, a 20-year-old film student whose family is thrown into crisis when his older sister Zsófi begins transforming into a bear. As her transformations become increasingly frequent and dangerous, the family struggles to maintain an appearance of normality, seeking help from doctors and spiritual figures without finding answers. Ábris turns his camera on the unfolding events, attempting to understand his sister and reconnect with someone he was once very close to.
Written and directed by Zsuzsanna Konrád, the film combines magical realism, dark humour and a pseudo-documentary approach to explore family relationships, mental health, helplessness, and the limits of understanding those we love. Drawing on the director’s personal experiences of witnessing psychological crises among people close to her, the story uses its surreal premise to examine the complexities of care and acceptance.
Produced by Good Kids (Hungary) and MHK Productions (Ireland), with Patricia D’Intino and Maya Korn as producers, the project has an estimated budget of 1.8 m EUR, with 210,000 EUR already secured. Poste Restante is attached as a Hungarian coproducer. The production is seeking international coproducers, particularly from Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania, as well as sales, festival and distribution partners, funding opportunities and development workshops.
Good Kids (Hungary)
Patricia D’Intino: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
MHK Productions www.mhkproductions.com (Ireland)
Maya Korn: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Credits:
Director: Zsuzsanna Konrád
Screenwriter: Zsuzsanna Konrád
Producers: Patricia D’Intino, Maya Korn
