Three from FilmFestival Cottbus Earlier this month in Germany near the Polish border, Cottbus, a specialist festival devoted to Osteuropäischen films, took place. Kinoeye introduces three films that played at the event. POLAND A pokolenie now? Mariusz Front's Portret podwójny (Double Portrait, 2001) The word pokolenie (generation) invariably pops up in discussions of recent Polish film, particularly Portret podwójny. Andrew James Horton asks if Front's debut succeeds in capturing the spirit of this generation that everyone seems to be after. HUNGARY Cut the blabber György Pálfi's Hukkle (2002) Pálfi is a man distinctly unimpressed with the verbose screenplays of most films. His debut responds to this by being completely without dialogue. Andrew James Horton looks at this festival hit. RUSSIA War, what is it good for? Aleksei Balabanov's Voina (War, 2002) Cult Russian director Balabanov's Voina is likely to have a parallel existence—revered as a tribute to the late actor Sergei Bodrov Jr and despised as a piece of nationalist, warmongering propaganda. Andrew James Horton unravels the film.

Three from Mario Bava HORROR The vampire transformed Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava's I Vampiri (1956) Although an early classic of Italian horror cinema, Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava's I Vampiri has not yet been given its critical due. Exploring the ways in which this film updates the gothicism of the traditional vampire tale, Stacey Abbott shows how "European horror began to confront the terrors of modernisation." HORROR The Shadow Trickster in Italian horror cinema Mario Bava's Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga (Baron Blood, 1972) and Lisa e il diavolo (Lisa and the Devil, 1972) In this Jungian archetypal analysis of two of Bava's later works, James Iaccino examines the simultaneous danger and appeal posed by the "Shadow Trickster" figure in Italian horror cinema. From the archive Just another fashion victim Mario Bava's Sei donne per l'assassino (Blood and Black Lace, 1964)

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