EFA Nominees: Denmark's "Another Round" Leads the Pack

by Nathaniel R

Apologies that in this week where we've been doing such a fine job covering international cinema news what will all the Oscar submission daily stuff, that we missed the EFA nominations. "OOPS-HOWD-THAT- HAPPEN?" in all caps. The nominees and commentary are after the jump. If we've written about the film there are links...

FILM

• Another Round/Druk (Denmark)
• Berlin Alexanderplatz (Germany) -not selected by Germany this season
• Corpus Christi (Poland) - Oscar Nominee last season
• Martin Eden (Italy) - not selected by Italy last season
• The Painted Bird (Czech Republic) - Oscar finalist last season
• Undine (Germany) - not selected by Germany this season 

This list has only one shot at any Oscar correlation this season. Denmark has yet to announce their submission but Another Round is surely the frontrunner. 

DIRECTOR 

• Agnieszka Holland, Charlatan - Reviewed / Czech Republic's Oscar submission
• Jan Komasa, Corpus Christi 
• Maria Sødahl, Hope - Just announced as Norway's submission
• Pietro Marcello, Martin Eden - Reviewed
• François Ozon, Summer of 85 - Reviewed
• Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round 

ACTRESS 

• Paula Beer, Undine (Germany) - Reviewed
• Natasha Berezhnaya, DAU. Natasha (Ukraine/UK/Russia/Germany)
• Nina Hoss, My Little Sister (Switzerland) - Reviewed / Oscar Submission
• Andrea Braein Hovig, Hope (Norway) Oscar Submission
• Marta Nieto, Mother (Spain) - based on the Oscar nominated short from 2018
• Ane Dahl Torp, Charter (Sweden) - Just announced as Sweden's Oscar submission

The only one of these films we were unfamiliar with was DAU. Natasha. It stars Natalia Berezhnaya as a canteen worker at a Soviet research institute who gets into trouble with drinking, affairs, and State security. This is Nina Hoss's second nomination (she was previously cited for Barbara)

ACTOR

Pity that Martin Eden took so long to gather steam. Italy passed it by last season (when it was eligible to be an Oscar submission)

• Goran Bogdan, Father (Serbia) - Reviewed
• Bartosz Bielenia, Corpus Christi (Poland) 
• Elio Germano, Hidden Away (Italy)
• Luca Marinelli, Martin Eden (Italy) - Reviewed
• Mads Mikkelsen, Another Round (Denmark)
• Viggo Mortensen, Falling (Canada/UK/Denmark)

Beyond thrilled to see Bogdan show up here. He's phenomenal in that film. The rest of the men aren't slouches either though we suspect that, in the end, this will be a Marinelli vs. Mikkelsen showdown. Mikkelsen probably has the advantage as this is his fourth nomination at the EFAs and he's never won competitively. He did, however, received a non-competitive "Oustanding European Achievement" award about a decade back. 

SCREENWRITER

• Martin Behnke & Burhan Qurbani, Berlin Alexanderplatz (Germany)
• Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo, Bad Tales (Italy)
• Costa Gavras, Adults in the Room (Greece)
• Pietro Marcello, Mauricizo Braucci, Martin Eden (Italy)
• Mateus Pacewicz, Corpus Christi (Poland)
• Thomas Vinterberg & Tobia Lindhom, Another Round (Denmark)

COMEDY

• Advantages of Travelling by Train (Spain)
• The Big Hit (France)
• Ladies of Steel (Finland) 

I fundamentally object to "comedy" categories when there are no directly parallel drama categories (see also Critics Choice Awards) but the other category is just best film. What this implicitly states is that comedies are not "films" but dramas are "films" and need not be categorized as "dramas". It's showing the bias right up front. If you want to honor comedies, make the categories equal parallels like the Globes. 

DISCOVERY  

• Full Moon (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
• Gagarine (France) - French finalist for Oscar submission this year!
• Instinct (The Netherlands) - Reviewed / Oscar submission last season
• Isaac (Lithuania)
• Jumbo (France/Belgium/Luxembourg) - Capsule Review
• Sole (Italy/Poland) 

DOCUMENTARY 

• Acasa, My Home (Romania) - Oscar Eligible This Year
• The Cave (Denmark/US/Germany/Qatar/France) - Reviewed / Oscar Nom Last Year
• Collective (Romania) - Reviewed / Oscar Eligible This Year
• Gunda (Norway)
• Little Girl (France)
• Saudi Runaway (Switzerland)

Gunda, which is about farm animals, is looking likely to make the Academy's eligibility list this year as it's been a festival favourite.

ANIMATED FILM

• Calamity (France/Denmark) an interpretation of the Calamity Jane story
• Josep (France/Belgium) an animated biopic of a policeman and an artist after the Spanish Civil War
• Klaus (Spain) Oscar nominee last year
• The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks (Russia) on the follies of the 20th century

Will any of these show up in the eligibility list for Best Animated Feature this year? It's such a slim field when you only look at the American features. 

SHORT FILM 

• All Cats are Grey in the Dark (Switzerland)
• Genius Loci (France)
• Past Perfect (Portugal)
• Sun Dog (Belgium/Russia)
• Uncle Thomas, Accounting for the Days (Portugal/Canada/France) - Oscar finalist last season

Too soon to tell if any of these (other than Uncle Thomas) will show up in the Oscar correlative categories.

Comments

[ken s]

Bartosz Bielenia is also a nominee for Best Actor for his phenomenal performance in Corpus Christi. I haven't seen any of the other nominees, but he's set the bar pretty high.

[cal roth]

Nathaniel, in one of the movies of this DAU project (more than 10 movies) they kill a pig, like, for real. I am not seeing anything related to it. People should be warned.

[Peggy Sue]

I have read wonderful things about Josep.

[Guenta]

Cal Roth, i assume you are vegan?

[Daniella Isaacs]

@cal You see a water buffalo killed Coppola's APOCALYPSE NOW, a pig in Godard's WEEKEND, a cow in Bertolucci's 1900, kangaroos in Ted Kotcheff's WAKE IN FRIGHT, chickens in Sam Peckinpah’s PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID to nary a peep of protest. People have really gotten squeamish of late. If the killing is not done cruelly and you're not a vegan (these are all animals that are killed routinely for food), you might be just a LEEETILE BIT hypocritical to complain too much. Remember, kids in Flint are still drinking toxic water; 500+ children were forcibly separated from their parents by the Trump administration. The US government used drone strikes and killed CIVILIANS in the Middle East during the OBAMA administration. We might want to direct our outrage toward something important.

[PP]

Happy that Italian cinema is rising. Sole, Hidden Away, Martin Eden and Bad Tales are all beautiful and I think that Germano will win Best Actor

[BJT]

Seeing Viggo Mortensen up there I did begin to wonder whether a nomination for an English Language film has a positive correlation with eventual Oscar nods, however looking through the last 10 years it seem there's a closer correlation between EFA and close Oscar snubs (hello Lesley Manville, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Timothy Spall, Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant...)