French director Justine Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or winning film Anatomy Of A Fall swept the awards at 36th European Film Awards in Berlin this evening, winning Best European Film, Director, Screenplay (with Arthur Harari) and actress for Sandra Hüller.
There was a strong selection this year with other films and directors leading the nominations including Aki Kaurismäki with Fallen Leaves, Agnieszka Holland with Green Border, Matteo Garrone with Me Captain, Jonathan Glazer with The Zone Of Interest.
The European Films Awards haul for Anatomy Of A Fall will likely ramp up growing Academy Awards buzz around the film and its star Sandra Hüller.
“I can’t say whether it will happen or not but yes… now we are in the race and we will continue the campaign in the U.S. and we’re totally involved, let’s see,” Triet said in an press conference after the ceremony.
Triet was also quizzed about the fact the film had not been selected for by France at its entry for the Best International Film.
“I think now we are so happy because fortunately the movie’s really worked. It’s overcome all these things… You know don’t do films for this… the film no longer belongs to me,” she said.
The body’s 4,600 members – hailing from “geographical Europe” as well as Israel, Palestine and Russia, – voted on an official Academy Selection made up of 40 films selected by the European Academy Board and a group of experts.
Awards for the craft categories were decided by an expert jury and announced ahead of tonight’s ceremony.
In other awards, UK director Molly Manning Walker’s coming-of-age film How To Have Sex, exploring the theme of sexual consent through a group of girls who go on a clubbing holiday in Greece, won the European Discovery award for best first film.
Korean-Lithuanian producer Uljana Kim, whose recent credits include Sergei Loznitsa’s The Natural History Destruction, received the Eurimage International Co-Production Award “to mark her outstanding commitment to co-production”.
In honorary awards, Spanish director Isabel Coixet was presented with the European Achievement in World Cinema Award; Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr was feted with the Honorary Award Of The President and The Board and Vanessa Redgrave was celebrated with the European Lifetime Achievement award.
This year’s European Film Awards ceremony unfolded against the backdrop of the second year of the Ukraine War as well as the Israel-Hamas conflict, the reverberations of which are being felt in Europe.
The event opened with a message of unity from the European Academy President Agnieszka Holland, Chair Mike Downey and CEO Matthijs Wouter Knol.
“We have Ukrainian, Russian, Israeli and Palestinian members… We want this to be a space to talk, to listen, to understand,” they said in a joint statement.
2023 European Film Awards Nominees and Winners – Winners in Bold
European Film
- Anatomy Of A Fall (France)
Dir. Justine Triet - Fallen Leaves (Finland, Germany)
Dir. Aki Kaurismäki
Green Border (Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium)
Dir. Agnieszka Holland - Io Capitano (Italy, Belgium)
Dir. Matteo Garrone - The Zone Of Interest (United Kingdom, Poland, USA)
Dir. Jonathan Glazer
European Director
- Justine Triet for Anatomy Of A Fall
- Aki Kaurismäki for Fallen Leaves
- Agnieszka Holland for Green Border
- Matteo Garrone for Me Captain
- Jonathan Glazer for The Zone Of Interest
European Screenwriter
- Justine Triet & Arthur Harari for Anatomy Of A Fall
- Aki Kaurismäki for Fallen Leaves
- Maciej Pisuk, Gabriela Łazarkiewicz-Sieczko & Agnieszka Holland for Green Border
- İlker Çatak & Johannes Duncker for The Teachers’ Lounge
- Jonathan Glazer for The Zone Of Interest
European Actress
- Sandra Hüller in Anatomy Of A Fall
- Eka Chavleishvili in Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
- Alma Pöysti in Fallen Leaves
- Mia McKenna-Bruce in How To Have Sex
- Leonie Benesch In The Teachers’ Lounge
- Sandra Hüller in The Zone Of Interest
European Actor
- Thomas Schubert in Afire
- Jussi Vatanen in Fallen Leaves
- Josh O’Connor in La Chimera
- Mads Mikkelsen in The Promised Land
- Christian Friedel in The Zone Of Interest
Best Documentary
- Apolonia, Apolonia (Denmark, Poland)
Dir. Lea Glob - Four Daughters
Dir. by Kaouther Ben Hania (France, Tunisia, Germany, Saudi Arabia) - Motherland (Sweden, Ukraine, Norway)
Dir. Hanna Badziaka & Alexander Mihalkovich (Sweden, Ukraine, Norway) - On The Adamant (France, Japan)
Dir. Nicolas Philibert (France, Japan) - Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Estonia, France, Iceland)
Dir. Anna Hints
European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI
- 20,000 Species Of Bees (Spain)
Dir. Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain) - How To Have Sex (UK, Greece)
Dir. Molly Manning Walker - La Palisiada (Ukraine)
Dir. directed by Philip Sotnychenko (Ukraine) - Safe Place (Croatia, Slovenia)
Dir. Juraj Lerotić - The Quiet Migration (Denmark)
Dir. Malene Choi
Young Audience Award
- Scrapper (UK)
Dir. Charlotte Regan - Longing For The World
Dir. Jenna Hasse - One In A Million
Dir. Joya Thome
European Animated Feature Film
- A Greyhound Of A Girl (Luxembourg, Italy, Ireland, United Kingdom, Latvia, Estonia, Germany)
Dir. Enzo d’Alò - Chicken For Linda!
Dir. Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach (France, Italy) - Robot Dreams (Spain, France)
Dir. Pablo Berger - The Amazing Maurice (Germany, UK)
Dir. Toby Genkel - White Plastic Sky (Hungary, Slovakia)
Dir. Tibor Bánóczkia and Sarolta Szabó
Excellence Awards for arts and crafts (previously announced)
European Cinematography
Rasmus Videbæk for The Promised Land
European Editing
Laurent Sénéchal for Anatomy Of A Fall
European Production Design
Emita Frigato for La Chimera
European Costume Design
Kicki Ilander for The Promised Land
European Make-up & Hair
Ana López-Puigcerver, Belén López-Puigcerver, David Martí & Montse Ribé for Society Of The Snow
European Original Score:
Markus Binder for Club Zero
European Sound
Johnnie Burn & Tarn Willers for The Zone Of Interest
European Visual Effects
Félix Bergés, Laura Pedro for Society of The Snow