COTTBUS: The final part of this year’s cocoPITCH (5 -7 November 2025) lineup turns its gaze inward, exploring memory, belief, and renewal through distinctly human stories. From late-life reinvention in Radioamateur and buried secrets on Turkey’s coast in Saros, to the surreal faith and folly of Some Good News, these projects reflect the emotional range and imagination driving contemporary European cinema, where humour and heartbreak often share the same frame.
Radioamateur is a Polish comedy-drama about grief, loneliness, and the courage to begin again. Written and directed by Tomasz Habowski (Songs About Love, Sundance-selected Polish box-office hit, 2021), the film follows Krzysztof, a 65-year-old widower and factory worker forced into retirement after four decades on the job. Sent to a crumbling mountain sanatorium, he hides from life, his daughter, and his emotions behind an old ham radio until a rebellious woman draws him into unexpected late-life intimacy. Through surreal dreams, dry humour, and tender human connection, Radioamateur captures the struggle of a generation raised to be stoic and the beauty of rediscovering feeling after years of silence.
Habowski, known for his ability to blend realism, music, and emotional nuance, calls his approach “romantic polishcore”, a vibrant mix of nostalgia, humour, and poetic melancholy. Shot on 16mm, the film pays visual homage to the post-Soviet aesthetic while maintaining modern rhythm and warmth. His previous film Songs about Love won multiple national awards, including Best Film at Off Camera 2022 and Best Director at the Koszalin Festival of Film Debuts, cementing him as one of Poland’s most original emerging voices.
Produced by Watchout Studio (Poland) and led by Marta Szarzyńska, the film has an estimated budget of 2,121,000 EUR, with 1,300,000 EUR already secured through support from the Polish Film Institute and Wrocław Feature Film Studio. Developed through MIDPOINT Feature Launch and awarded at Karlovy Vary and Polish Days (New Horizons), Radioamateur seeks coproducers, gap financing, sales, distributors, and festival partners, with production planned for spring 2026.
Producer:
Watchout Studio (Poland)
Marta Szarzyńska: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Credits:
Director: Tomasz Habowski
Scriptwriter: Tomasz Habowski
Producer: Marta Szarzyńska
Saros is a Turkish drama set on the windswept Northern Aegean coast in 2002, a time of heat, crisis, and quiet transformation. Written and directed by Ozan Yoleri (Inpaintings, Tallinn Black Nights, 2023, NETPAC Award), the film follows Sarp, an underwater archaeologist sent to complete the unfinished work of a diver who drowned under mysterious circumstances. When the diver’s widow Sonya and her curious six-year-old daughter arrive to assist, Sarp’s isolation unravels into an unexpected connection that forces him to confront guilt, truth, and the meaning of belonging. Beneath the sunlit waves and buried ruins, Saros explores the tension between progress and preservation, and the fragile humanity caught in between.
Yoleri, a Sarajevo Talents alumnus and co-founder of Vigo Film, is known for his atmospheric visual storytelling and humanistic gaze. Drawing inspiration from his hometown’s resistance to coastal privatisation, he crafts an emotionally resonant film about conscience, love, and legacy. Shot in subdued natural tones and fluid underwater sequences, Saros juxtaposes the vast stillness of the sea with the volatility of the heart. His debut feature Inpaintings premiered in competition at Tallinn and screened internationally, establishing him as one of Turkey’s most distinctive new voices.
Produced by Monday Films and Vigo Film (Turkey) with producers Ilgım Coşar, Alara Hamamcıoğlu Bayraktar, and Sinan Kesova, the project has an estimated budget of 686,400 EUR, with 177,191 EUR already in place through equity investment, presales, and in-kind partnerships. The team seeks European coproducers, sales, and distribution partners, with principal photography planned for June 2027.
Producers:
Monday Films (Turkey)
Ilgım Coşar: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Vigo Film (Turkey)
Sinan Kesova: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Credits:
Director: Ozan Yoleri
Scriptwriter: Ozan Yoleri
Producers: Ilgım Coşar, Alara Hamamcıoğlu Bayraktar, Sinan Kesova
Some Good News is a Hungarian magical realist satire about faith, greed, and the absurdity of salvation in post-socialist Eastern Europe. Written and directed by László Csuja (Gentle, Sundance 2022; Blossom Valley, Karlovy Vary 2018), the film unfolds in a decaying Transylvanian town shaken by the appearance of an eternal fire that no one can extinguish. As rumours of miracles spread, a Western investor arrives to build a wellness centre on the site, igniting chaos among the townspeople. Between opportunism, superstition, and political manipulation, a tragicomic struggle emerges over who owns the miracle, and what it’s really worth.
Csuja, known for his lyrical realism and dark humour, captures the contradictions of a region trapped between old ideologies and new illusions. Co-written with Éva Zabezsinszkij (Son of Saul, Sunset), Some Good News interweaves multiple storylines in a world where faith and farce collide, and where hope, like fire, consumes everything it touches. The film’s tone balances Gogolian absurdity with the melancholy stillness of Eastern European cinema, a mosaic of characters chasing redemption in a land that keeps reinventing its myths.
Produced by Cinesuper (Hungary) and Anna Szijártó, Some Good News has an estimated budget of 560,000 EUR, with 60,000 EUR already secured through in-kind partnerships and tax rebates. Backed by the Hungarian National Film Office, Kraft Rental, and Filmtett, the production seeks coproducers from Central and Western Europe, as well as funding partners, distributors, and streaming collaborators. Filming is planned for summer 2027 in Transylvania (Romania), with a focus on regional authenticity and community involvement.
Producer:
Cinesuper (Hungary)
Anna Szijártó: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Credits:
Director: László Csuja
Scriptwriters: László Csuja, Éva Zabezsinszkij
Producer: Anna Szijártó
