Georgian director Dito Tsintsadze's Lost Killers was awarded the $8,800 (DM20,000) top prize at the 10th annual Cottbus Film Festival in Germany, which spotlights Eastern European films.

The German production, recently acquired by German distributor Advanced (see separate story), qualified for the festival because of the director's nationality as well as its Eastern European content.

The second $4,400 (DM10,000) prize was given to Achim von Borries' England!, about a Ukrainian nuclear technician dying from radiation poisoning. The film also won the audience award. Czech film-maker Alice Nellis was awarded the $3,500 (DM8,000) third prize for Ene Bene.

This year's festival also featured a panel entitled "Connecting Cottbus", during which 60 members of the international film industry discussed co-operation between Eastern and Western Europe.