Serbian stories take centre stage at Cottbus, with Dwelling Among the Gods and When The Phone Rang, as well as the Croatian Good Children.
Cottbus Film Festival Day One: Did You Mean Serbian?

Exploring the Outer Edge of Film
Serbian stories take centre stage at Cottbus, with Dwelling Among the Gods and When The Phone Rang, as well as the Croatian Good Children.
Pavements is a biopic, musical and exhibition, with Alex Ross Perry applying the idiosyncratic spirit of the 90s band to novel forms of cinematic expression.
A fat straight man finds a new lease of life when he sends his self-portrait into a gay magazine in Devin Shears’ touching debut Cherub.
With hints of Zodiac and Seven, Fabrice du Welz’s new thriller Maldoror — charting the real-life murders of Belgian serial killer Marc Dutroux — aims for that nasty, slow burn.
The dehumanisation of seeking asylum is piercingly explored in Alexandros Avranas’ horror-but-not-horror Quiet Life. Live from Venice Film Festival!
In a cinema culture dominated by Hollywood, Festival de Vitória, now in its 31st year, puts a necessary spotlight on homegrown Brazilian film.
Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s Plastic Guns doubles down on the provocations of Bloody Oranges in an off-kilter, hilarious and deeply nasty farce.
With shades of Cassavetes, Pedro Freire’s Brazilian debut Malu is a spirited and claustrophobic homage to the influence of his chaotic mother.
The Vanishing Soldier uses its picarasque, free-wheeling form to investigate the complexities and paradoxes of modern Isreal — to mixed results.
When history ends it’s tempting to sleep through all the chaos. But as The Asthenic Syndrome points out, neither sleep — or art — can change a single thing.