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For most film awards ceremonies, the focus is primarily kept to the nation in which the hosting organization is present. Films made outside that country in are of course acknowledged and nominated from time to time (even winning in several of the biggest prizes in many cases), but never do they take up the majority of the nominees, as voters will often show a strong preference for whatever has been produced within the borders of where they call home. That’s not nearly as much of an issue for the European Film Awards though, mostly because of the fact that its scope spreads throughout the entirety of its titular continent rather than a single nation. Since its origins in 1987, the European Film Awards, held by the European Film Academy, has sought to pay tribute to the best cinematic works made by European filmmakers within the span of a given calendar year, of which there are often plenty to choose from. Whether a film is made as far west as Portugal, as far east as Romania, as far south as Italy, or as far north as Ireland (if not even further in any direction), any film produced mostly within at least one nation in Europe can qualify for the European Film Awards. Such flexibility has enabled a wide variety of highly acclaimed feature-length films (as well as some shorts here and there) to receive at least some recognition from an organization dedicated to showcasing the best of European cinema, and if the most recent announcements are any indication, this dedication has not waned in the slightest. The morning of Tuesday, November 5th saw the nominations for the 37th European Film Awards, which are expected to take place on December 7th (just over a month after this announcement) in the city of Lucerne, Switzerland, be revealed to the general public, and while there are quite a few titles that those who have kept up with the film festival circuit are fairly familiar with, there are just as many that perhaps haven’t gotten the same amount of attention, something that may hopefully change with these recent nominations.
Leading the pack in terms of total nominations is “Emilia Pérez”, a Spanish-language production from French filmmaker Jacques Audiard. In addition to the highly coveted Best European Film Award (which would go to Audiard and fellow producers Pascal Caucheteux, Valérie Schermann, and Anthony Vaccarello should the film be named the winner), this musical crime comedy has also received nods for Best European Director, Best European Screenwriter (both for Audiard), and Best European Actress (Karla Sofia Gascón). While few are surprised that Audiard’s film, one that has so far taken several film festivals by storm, has made it into the European Film Awards nominations, they are perhaps a little shocked to find that Audiard, despite previously being nominated by the European Film Academy five times in the past, has yet to actually win a single prize for them. Then again, if the over 5,000 members of the Academy are willing to give this most recent film of Audiard’s as many nominations as it has, then maybe they’ll be willing to go even further and finally give the filmmaker the accolade he’s sought for so long.
Someone who has been awarded in the past by the European Film Academy is Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, whose most recent film happens to be tied with Audiard’s in terms of the number of nominations. That film, “The Room Next Door”, serves as Almodóvar’s first foray into English-language filmmaking, a situation that, if it has not improved Almodóvar’s chances of winning, has at least done little to worsen them. This drama film, which previously earned the Golden Lion at the most recent Venice Film Festival, will also vie for the Best European Film award (which, should it win, Almodóvar will accept alongside producers Agustin Almodóvar and Esther García), as well as the awards for Best European Director, Best European Screenwriter (both Almodóvar), and Best European Actress (Tilda Swinton).
In second place, one will find “The Seed of a Sacred Fig”, which has a rather fascinating history that connects to its creator, filmmaker Mohammad Rasalouf, being a native of the Iranian nation. In fact, while Rasalouf secretly filmed a majority of this film in his home country, Iran’s extreme censorship laws forced him to smuggle his work out of the nation and receive the support of an outside distributor. This is why, despite technically being an Iranian film, “The Seed of a Sacred Fig” has been submitted by Germany as its pick for a potential Best International Film award at the upcoming Academy Awards (that held by the United States’ Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), and it’s also how the film was able to secure three nominations for the upcoming European Film Awards. Like “Emilia Pérez” and “The Room Next Door”, Rasalouf’s film will compete for the Best European Film Award (which he would share with producers Amin Sadrei, Jean-Christophe Simon, Mani Tilgner, and Rozita Hendijanian), and Rasalouf will personally compete for Best European Director and Best European Screenwriter.
While its total number of nominations is only limited to two, the French satirical body horror :The Substance” also stands a chance of taking home the Best European Film Award, having already been a contender for the Palme d’Or at the latest Cannes Film Festival and even won the prize for Best Screenplay. Director/writer Coralie Fargeat, who accepted the aforementioned award at Cannes, seeks to repeat this success in the Best European Screenwriter category, and should her film be named Best European Film, she will accept this too with fellow producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.
These four films are perhaps the most noteworthy contenders for the Best European Film Award, but they aren’t the only ones. Also competing are Lina Soulem’s “Bye Bye Tiberias”, a co-production between France, Belgium, Palestine, and Qatar; Mati Diop’s French/Senegalese documentary “Dahomey”; Gints Zilbalodis’ Latvian/French/Belgian animated fantasy adventure “Flow”; Alina Maksimenko’s Polish documentary “In Limbo”; Kristina Dufková’s Czech/French/Slovakian animated feature “Living Large”; Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra, and Hamdan Ballal’s Palestinian/Norwegian documentary “No Other Land”; Claude Barras’ Swiss/Belgian/French animated film “Savages”; Johan Grimonprez’s French/Belgian/Dutch documentary “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”; Isabel Herguera’s Spanish/German/Indian animated film “Sultana’s Dream”; Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s animated docudrama “They Shot the Piano Player”, a co-production between Spain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Peru; and finally, Maura Delpero’s Italian/French/Belgian drama “Vermiglio”. All of these make for rather interesting and commendable choices (with the unusually high number of animated and documentary films nominated being especially notable), and no matter which one of these films ends up being most in the European Film Academy’s favor, it should go without saying that these films are indeed some of the best that European cinema has to offer.
